Analyst firm Infonetics Research has rubbished ideas that demand for network access control (NAC) appliances is dead. It's latest report suggests that NAC sales rose sharply in the first quarter of this year.

Some market watchers have predicted that NAC sales would plummet following the release of Windows Server 2008 in February 2008. It includes in-built network access protection, which could potentially undermine demand for NAC appliances.

Nevertheless, Infonetics reports that during the first quarter of 2008, NAC sales hit £31m, up 16 per cent on the previous quarter.

"While many have been pronouncing NAC dead, recent events, including the faltering US economy and the disappearance of some early NAC vendors, many vendors are reporting strong preliminary second quarter results, great pipelines, and decreasing sales cycles for the rest of the year,” said Infonetics' principal analyst for network security Jeff Wilson.