Sales of intrusion detection system devices have grown strongly, despite industry commentators' claims that the technology's popularity is fading.

According to IDC, the intrusion detection market jumped 29.2 per cent year on year, while the more established firewall/virtual private network security appliance market increased 7.5 per cent.

"In contrast to statements that intrusion detection software is dead, the growth in intrusion detection appliances show that many organisations still see the value in monitoring their networks," said Charles Kolodgy, research director for IDC's Security Products service.

"Not surprisingly, the intrusion detection appliance market has been growing, as many more intrusion detection software appliances are available compared to a year ago."

The market watcher added that the worldwide security appliance market saw annual growth of 10 per cent in the second quarter of 2003, with factory revenues totalling $333m.

IDC largely attributes the 10 per cent year-over-year growth for the security appliance market to the strength in the Western European and US markets. The two regions had the largest year-over-year growth rates, at 13.5 per cent and 12.4 per cent respectively.

From a competitive standpoint, IDC's research indicated that Cisco maintained its lead in the number one position, despite the minimal one per cent decline in revenue growth and loss of market share.