Cisco Tops in Surging Carrier Ethernet and Switching Segment
9/19/2006 -- If the optical hardware segment is booming, the service provider router and switch space is positively sizzling.
That's one conclusion of a new report from market watcher Infonetics Research, which found that worldwide sales of carrier Ethernet switches and routers were up by 12 percent in the second quarter of this year, reaching $837 million.
Not surprisingly, market leader Cisco Systems Inc., retained its crown, outpacing competitors Juniper and Alcatel. There was other encouraging news for Cisco stalwarts, too: namely, Infonetics? projection that annual carrier Ethernet switches and router sales will increase by 113 percent between 2005 and 2009.
What's more, Infonetics reports, the overall service provider router and switch market (which includes not just carrier Ethernet switches and IP core or edge routers, but also enterprise-class Ethernet switches, and multiservice core and edge ATM switches) was up 6 percent (to $2.38 billion) in the second quarter.
"The service provider multiservice ATM switch segment continues its downward trend [down 24 percent since this time last year], while the IP and Carrier Ethernet switch and router segments continue to climb," said Infonetics principal analyst Michael Howard in a statement. "Carriers are outfitting their data networks to handle the coming IPTV traffic, and outfitting their mobile networks for the expected onslaught of mobile video and data traffic. Carrier Ethernet-grade equipment meets these needs."
For the quarter, Cisco was number 1, garnering 45 percent of worldwide revenue, followed by Juniper and Alcatel. The latter vendor -- which was knocked from its market-leading spot in the optical networking space by upstart vendor Huawei -- posted a 16 percent increase in Q2.
Cisco was also number 1 in the carrier Ethernet switch and router segment, followed by Alcatel. On the whole, worldwide IP core and edge router sales were up by 9 percent. 65 percent of worldwide service provider router and switch sales came from routers, 18 percent from carrier Ethernet switches, 16 percent from multiservice ATM switches and just 1 percent from enterprise-class Ethernet switches. -Stephen Swoyer
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