The global service provider router and switch market, which includes IP edge routers, IP core routers, and carrier Ethernet switches (CES), sequentially decreased 14% to $3.3bn in the first quarter of 2012 (1Q12), reports market research firm Infonetics Research. From the year-ago first quarter, the market is essentially flat, down just 1%.
"Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent, and Juniper all gained IP Edge market share in the first quarter, Cisco the most by far, increasing its share from about 31% to about 39% quarter-over-quarter."
"The best way to look at the carrier router and switch market is to analyze the 'IP Edge,' the sum of edge routers and carrier Ethernet switches, since routers can switch and switches can route, and many are deployed both ways," notes Michael Howard, Infonetics Research's co-founder and principal analyst for carrier networks. "Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent, and Juniper all gained IP Edge market share in the first quarter, Cisco the most by far, increasing its share from about 31% to about 39% quarter-over-quarter."
Howard adds: "Cisco is showing signs of a regained focus, and with the biggest installed base of routers at both operators and enterprises, they have an advantage that is hard to compete with."
While the global service provider router and switch market declined in 1Q12, the North American market was up 27% quarter-over-quarter and up 9% from the year-ago first quarter
In 1Q12, Cisco, Juniper, and Huawei together took 96% of global core router revenue, but Alcatel-Lucent just entered the core router market, which will shake up the vendor market share landscape once revenue from ALU's new core router materializes later this year.
Service provider routers and switches are the second largest telecom market segment in 2011 total revenue (~$14.5 billion) after mobile RAN spending ($30+ billion)
Infonetics' quarterly Service Provider Routers and Switches report tracks Alaxala, Alcatel-Lucent, Brocade, Ciena, Cisco, Ericsson, Extreme, Force10, Fujitsu, Hitachi Cable, Huawei, Juniper, NEC, Nokia Siemens, Orckit-Corrigent, Tellabs, ZTE, and others.