5/15/2006 -- Sure, it's not gangbuster growth on the scale of, say, the IPTV segment, but the global market for telecom and datacom equipment revenues is doing just fine, thank you. On top of an encouraging performance last year, telecom and datacom equipment revenues should grow by nearly one-third over the next three years, skyrocketing from $107.9 billion last year to $143.5 billion in 2009.

That's according to a new study from market watcher Infonetics Research, which found that -- drum roll, please -- Cisco Systems Inc. was once again tops among telecom and datacom equipment providers. Cisco controlled nearly one-fifth (19 percent) of the global market, making it the No. 1 player by a long stretch.

Today, wireless broadband and mobile radio access equipment sales account for the largest portion of revenues, but Infonetics expects a healthy chunk of that 33 percent growth will be fueled by phenomenal sales of next-gen voice equipment and broadband aggregation or IPTV equipment.

Wireless LAN equipment sales are surging, too, Infonetics researchers say, but still represent a small market overall.

"Three major trends are driving the growth we're seeing in the telecom and datacom market: People worldwide are communicating over networks and the Internet via broadband. Carriers are moving to a single converged data network incorporating voice and video along with traditional data," said Jeff Wilson, principal analyst at Infonetics Research, in a statement. "And mobile and fixed wireline networks of data, voice and video are converging. With all of these changes come increased security concerns, both in carrier and enterprise networks, and all have long-term implications on spending that keep growth in the market relatively high through 2009."

Right now, Infonetics says, the next-gen voice and IMS market (for service providers, at least) accounts for some 2 percent of overall telecom/datacom revenues -- but that number will double to 4 percent in 2009. What will fuel this growth? The move to IMS, for starters, along with fixed-mobile convergence.

We talked last week about the IPTV equipment market, which is expected to grow by leaps and bounds over the next few years. In the service provider-oriented telecom/datacom segment, IPTV growth -– with a projected CAGR of 99 percent between 2005 and 2009 -- will be no less stunning.

Elsewhere, Infonetics predicts, wireless broadband and mobile radio access equipment sales will slow in 2006, depressed in part by a shift in buying patterns (from historically strong GSM/CDMA spending to 3G equipment).

And while Cisco is tops in the worldwide telecom/datacom market, Nortel Networks is No. 2 (albeit by a significant margin), followed by Huawei, which is followed more closely by Alcatel and Siemens. -Stephen Swoyer