February 22, 2013

Infonetics Research: Carrier Router and Switch Market to Grow Again in 2013

By Sujata Garud
TMCnet Contributor

Recently, Infonetics (News - Alert) Research announced its vendor market share and preliminary analysis from its Q4 2012 and FY 2012 Service Provider Routers and Switches report.

Global IP edge and core router and carrier Ethernet switch revenue reportedly increased by 12 percent to $3.8 billion, compared to the previous quarter. Revenue was strong in all regions expect North America.

As per the report, Cisco, Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert) and Juniper were among the top four manufacturers in the router and carrier Ethernet switch segment in 2012.

Relative to edge routers, sales of core routers were down a bit, as the coming move to 100G is making carriers increasingly timid as they choose the next generation of higher-capacity core routers.

Michael Howard (News - Alert), cofounder and Principal Analyst for Carrier Networks, Infonetics Research, said, “The global carrier router and switch market ended 2012 with a small 4-percent loss, but it could have been worse. Significant budget flushes from operators in Europe, China and Latin America buoyed the overall market in the final quarter of the year.”

“Looking ahead,” he added, “we expect the service provider switch and router market to grow again in 2013. The U.S. economy is in better shape and we are predicting an increase in worldwide carrier capex this year. In EMEA, activity looks good for the Middle East and, to some degree, Africa and Europe seems to have hit bottom. If our talks with European service providers prove true, then we can expect a slow climb for the IP router and switch market there, albeit from this lower starting point. Operators know they need to spend on their networks or risk becoming uncompetitive.”

Edited by Braden Becker