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11/07/2026 8:35 pm
TL;DR: The global microsegmentation market is projected to grow from $8.2 billion in 2025 to over $41 billion by 2034, yet Gartner estimates only 5% to 20% of enterprises have adopted it, leaving lateral movement widely uncontained, according to Elisity. Identity-based enforcement is becoming the practical test of zero trust, not just a network design choice.
NHIMG editorial — based on content published by Elisity: What are the Top Microsegmentation Solutions for 2026?
By the numbers:
- Illumio was named a 2026 Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice for Network Security Microsegmentation, holding a 4.8 out of 5 rating across 168 ratings as of January 2026.
Questions worth separating out
Q: How should security teams choose a microsegmentation approach for mixed estates?
A: Start with where the risky assets live, not with the policy engine.
Q: Why does microsegmentation matter for identity and access governance?
A: Because lateral movement is often the next step after credential abuse.
Q: What breaks when microsegmentation does not cover unmanaged devices?
A: The programme leaves its highest-risk assets outside the containment model.
Practitioner guidance
- Inventory where agents cannot be deployed Separate managed servers from OT, IoT, medical, and legacy assets before you compare tools.
- Map privileged protocols to identity controls Identify RDP, SSH, WinRM, and similar admin paths, then determine which ones should be gated by identity-aware policy instead of static network rules.
- Test coverage against unmanaged assets Run proof-of-value tests against devices that cannot install software, because those are usually the assets that expose the gap between segmentation theory and operational coverage.
What's in the full article
Elisity's full article covers the operational comparison detail this post intentionally leaves for the source:
- Side-by-side vendor matrix for 12 tools across deployment model, agent requirement, and OT/IoT support
- Analyst-research breakdown showing how Forrester, Gartner, GigaOm, and Constellation position the major vendors
- Vendor-by-vendor best-fit guidance for hospitals, industrial estates, hybrid cloud, and firewall-led environments
- Practical selection notes on when agentless, agent-based, hypervisor-based, or identity-led segmentation is the better fit
👉 Read Elisity's microsegmentation vendor comparison for 2026 →
Microsegmentation adoption gaps: what IAM and security teams need to know?
Explore further
11/07/2026 9:03 pm
Microsegmentation has become an identity governance problem as much as a network control problem. The article’s strongest signal is that segmentation decisions now hinge on who or what is allowed to talk, not just where traffic is routed. That shift matters because identity, workload, and device context increasingly determine whether lateral movement is containable. Practitioners should treat segmentation policy as part of access governance, not a separate network project.
A question worth separating out:
Q: Which controls should organisations pair with microsegmentation to reduce risk?
A: Pair segmentation with strong authentication, privileged access control, entitlement review, and revocation discipline. Microsegmentation works best when it is linked to identity governance, because the control only limits reach if credentials, roles, and access paths are kept current.
👉 Read our full editorial: Microsegmentation adoption gaps are leaving lateral movement exposed
