7/21/2009 -- Don't look now, but happy days could be right around the corner in the telecom/datacom equipment market, where longtime market champ Cisco Systems Inc., Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson are expected to benefit from a resurgence in spending starting next year.

One upshot of this projection is that 2009 will be something of a fallow period in the telecom/datacom equipment segment, according to market watcher Infonetics Research.

"Though service provider capital expenditures are slightly decreasing in 2009 and 2010, spending is still on the rise for products that help carriers transform their networks," said Infonetics analyst Jeff Wilson in a statement. "On the enterprise side, while companies of all sizes everywhere have been hit hard by the recession, they are in the middle of key network transformations of their own, which drive pockets of good growth. Whether to save on operating expenses or to increase revenue, service providers and enterprises are investing in new network technology."

Cisco remains the overall telecom/datacom market champ, followed by runner-up Alcatel-Lucent and third-place finisher Ericsson. All three vendors collectively "dominate" the enterprise space, according to Wilson.

Three segments in particular -- viz., IPTV and video gear, broadband customer premise gear, and subscriber management software -- are outperforming an otherwise down market, Wilson added.

"We expect a mild contraction in the overall telecom and datacom equipment market in 2009, and a recovery between 2010 and 2011, followed by strong growth through 2013, when worldwide revenue will reach $195 billion," he concluded. --Stephen Swoyer