New ARC MarketMap will evaluate cybersecurity suppliers supporting industrial operations and critical infrastructure.
ARC Advisory Group has initiated new research for a MarketMap focused on Industrial Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs). This MarketMap will provide a structured evaluation of suppliers delivering firewall technologies purpose-built or adapted for industrial environments, benchmarking capabilities, deployment readiness, and market positioning to help owner-operators and suppliers understand competitive dynamics in an increasingly complex cybersecurity landscape.
As industrial companies expand connectivity across plants, remote assets, and enterprise systems, next-generation firewalls have become a foundational element of industrial cybersecurity architectures. ARC’s MarketMap will assess how suppliers are addressing evolving threats, regulatory pressures, and the operational realities of industrial and critical infrastructure environments.
Industrial Next-Generation Firewalls Market Context and Significance
Industrial organizations are facing a rapidly changing threat environment driven by increased connectivity, digital transformation, and convergence of IT and OT networks. The expansion of cloud applications, edge computing, industrial IoT, and remote access has significantly increased the attack surface across manufacturing, energy, utilities, and other asset-intensive industries.
At the same time, governments and regulators are imposing more stringent cybersecurity requirements on operators of industrial facilities and critical infrastructure. These forces are elevating the role of advanced firewall technologies that can deliver deeper visibility, stronger segmentation, and more resilient protection without disrupting operations.
Defining the Technology
Industrial next-generation firewalls extend beyond traditional packet filtering and port blocking by incorporating advanced inspection and contextual awareness of network traffic. These systems support industrial protocols, deep packet inspection, and software-driven capabilities such as intrusion detection systems (IDS) and intrusion prevention systems (IPS). By contextualizing traffic rather than simply blocking it, NGFWs enable more sophisticated detection of malware, misconfigurations, and targeted attacks.
Industrial NGFWs are delivered in a variety of forms, including hardened firewall devices and multifunction industrial appliances. Increasingly, NGFW functionality is also embedded in software tools used for configuration and management, as well as in software-defined firewalls deployed within virtualized or cloud-connected environments. In addition to products, the market includes project services for installation and startup, along with operational services such as monitoring, maintenance, and lifecycle support.
Industrial Next-Generation Firewalls Market Drivers and Industry Adoption
Growth in the industrial NGFW market is being driven by heightened cybersecurity risk, stricter regulatory oversight, and the need for greater cyber resilience across industrial operations. Most industrial facilities rely on firewalls to protect network perimeters and enforce zone segmentation, with NGFWs now representing the dominant class of deployed devices.
Technology evolution is also reshaping adoption patterns. Suppliers are incorporating more advanced software functionality, improved configuration and management tools, and emerging capabilities such as AI-assisted rule configuration to reduce complexity and deployment effort. Meanwhile, shifts toward edge-centric architectures, software-defined networking, microsegmentation, and new connectivity technologies such as 5G are increasing demand for more flexible and intelligent firewall solutions that can support security from the device level to the cloud.
ARC MarketMap Perspective
ARC’s MarketMap will evaluate industrial NGFW suppliers across multiple dimensions, including functional depth, industrial protocol support, deployment models, ecosystem integration, and strategic direction. The analysis will consider both hardened and non-hardened NGFWs used in industrial applications, including those deployed at Purdue/ISA-95 levels 3 and below.
The MarketMap is intended to provide decision-grade intelligence for industrial owner-operators assessing cybersecurity investments, while also offering suppliers an objective view of competitive positioning and market expectations.
“The industrial next-generation firewall market is growing, but it remains fragmented, with a mix of IT security suppliers and industrial-focused vendors addressing different layers of the architecture,” said Larry O’Brien, Vice President of Research at ARC Advisory Group. “This MarketMap will help industrial organizations understand which suppliers are best positioned to meet today’s cybersecurity requirements, while also highlighting how NGFW capabilities are evolving as industrial networks become more distributed and software-driven.”
Call for Supplier Participation
ARC invites suppliers of industrial next-generation firewalls and related services to participate in this MarketMap research. Participation includes data submission, analyst briefings, and the opportunity to be evaluated and included in the published MarketMap. Suppliers interested in participating should contact ARC Advisory Group for participation details and timelines.
Suppliers interested in participating should contact ARC Advisory Group to receive MarketMap participation materials and timelines.