Smart firewall technologies, such as wireless intrusion prevention and detection, still hold a relatively small share of the network firewall market, but are showing significant potential and gaining leverage in the sector, market research firm Gartner found.

According to a recent Channelnomics report, Gartner has found the firewall market is experiencing significant growth as a whole. Between 2009 and 2011, the sector grew from $5.4 billion in revenues to $6.3 billion. However, just 5 percent of the market's sales can be attributed to smart next-generation firewall technologies.

Despite the relatively small market share for next-generation firewalls, Gartner has identified the technology as a key enterprise tool, the news source said. Smarter firewall technologies are key to ensure application, data and network security in an era in which attacks are becoming more sophisticated and a greater threat to businesses.

This increased risk of security breaches is clear when it comes to protecting intellectual property. A recent IT-Director.com report said hackers pose a major threat to IP and businesses need to use wireless intrusion detection along with other network security systems to safeguard their infrastructure. The sheer scale of attacks is rising quickly, making staunch defense critical.