The 5 Best-Selling Security Software Brands In Q2 2018

Palo Alto Networks, Cisco and Symantec sold the most security software through the channel during the second quarter of 2018. See how much money they earned and who else cracked the Top 5 list.

The Best In Security Software

Palo Alto Networks held its market-leading position in security software sold through the channel during the second quarter of 2018, according to new data from Port Washington, N.Y.-based The NPD Group. The NPD Group tracks monthly technology sales-out information from the largest IT distributors and resellers in North America, down to the item level and with overlap removed.

The total value of security software sold during second-quarter 2018 was $1.11 billion, down 5.1 percent from $1.17 billion a year ago. All five market share leaders recorded a reduction in year-over-year software security sales, and only IBM grew its dollar share in the market over the past 12 months.

All of the growth in software security came from outside the five market leaders, with the remaining vendors in the sector increasing their dollar share from 52.2 percent to 57.9 percent over the past year and growing cumulative sales from $608.2 million in second-quarter 2017 to $641 million in the most recent quarter.

Here's a look at the top five leaders by brand that sold the most security software from April to June 2018.

5. IBM

Dollar Share: 5.8 percent

IBM saw a slight decline in its security software sales in the second quarter to $63.6 million, according to NPD, down 2.4 percent from $65.2 million in revenue at the same time last year. The Armonk, N.Y.-based vendor fared better, though, from a dollar share perspective, improving 0.2 percent from 5.6 percent a year earlier.

During the quarter, Big Blue rolled out the Resilient Incident Response Platform to dramatically sharpen and accelerate incident response by combining incident case management, orchestration, automation, intelligence, and deep two-way partner integrations into a single platform.

4. McAfee

Dollar Share: 6.4 percent

McAfee saw its security software sales in the second quarter fall to $70.9 million, according to NPD, down 9.6 percent from sales of $78.4 million at the same time last year. The dollar share impact for the Santa Clara, Calif.-based vendor, however, was far less severe, dipping just 0.3 percent from 6.7 percent a year earlier.

Last month, McAfee re-entered the mobile security market with new endpoint, automation and orchestration offerings that scale to meet the needs of larger businesses. McAfee said the MVision line of products will make the company's portfolio more simple, inclusive and comprehensive.

3. Symantec

Dollar Share: 7.9 percent

Symantec's security software revenue fell in the second quarter to $87.3 million, according to NPD, down 18.7 percent from $107.3 million this time last year. The Mountain View, Calif.-based vendor also took hit from a dollar share perspective, decreasing 1.3 percent from 9.2 percent a year earlier.

Starboard Value revealed two weeks ago that it has taken a 5.8 percent position in Symantec and plans to nominate five candidates for a position on the company's board of directors. The activist investor believes that Symantec's shares have been undervalued.

2. Cisco Systems

Dollar Share: 9.6 percent

Cisco's security software revenue dropped in the second quarter to $105.8 million, according to NPD, down 8.8 percent from $116 million the same time a year ago. The hit to the San Jose, Calif.-based vendor's dollar share, though, was far more modest, falling just 0.4 percent from 10 percent in the second quarter of 2017.

Cisco Sstruck a deal earlier this month to acquire Duo Security for $2.35 billion to help push into the market for unified access security and multifactor authentication. Cisco intends to integrate Duo's offering with its cloud security platforms to help connect securely to any application over any networked device.

1. Palo Alto Networks

Dollar Share: 12.4 percent

Software security revenue for Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter of 2018 fell to $137.6 million, according to NPD, down 27.6 percent from $190.2 million at this year last year. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based vendor also suffered from a dollar share perspective, which tumbled 3.9 percent from 16.3 percent a year ago.

Palo Alto Networks pulled off a pair of major acquisitions this year, first in March announcing plans to purchase Evident.io for $300 million to make it easier for enterprise cloud users to keep their deployments compliant and secure. A month later, the company agreed to buy Secdo for a reported $100 million to bolster its data collection and visualization capabilities on the endpoint.