Telecom Lead America: The global enterprise router market
including high-end, mid-range, branch, and low-end/SOHO routers
declined 9 percent to $834 million between the fourth quarter of 2011
(4Q11) and the first quarter of 2012 (1Q12), reports market research
firm Infonetics Research.
The report found that market
leader Cisco modestly increased its overall enterprise router share
during the last two quarters, posting its largest revenue market share in 12
months, at 74.7 percent in 1Q12.
In terms of unit share, the top 5 enterprise router
vendors in 1Q12 are Cisco, HP, OneAccess, ADTRAN and Huawei.
The study found that Huawei has got the biggest gain with
unit shipments up 130 percent and revenue is up 79 percent since the year-ago
first quarter
From the year-ago first quarter, global enterprise router
revenue is up a modest 2 percent, and unit shipments are up 4 percent.
Low-end/SOHO router revenue, though down sequentially in
1Q12, posted the largest year-over-year increase, up 44 percent. High-end
routers, also down sequentially.
Mid-range routers had the poorest performance of the
quarter, as buyers substituted with lower-cost equipment, and purchases from
the public sector continued to decline.
Enterprise router sales in North America are down
10 percent sequentially, but up 8 percent from the year-ago first quarter.
Meanwhile, sales in Europe fell both sequentially and from a year ago, due to
economic trouble.
In China, where router sales popped last quarter, the
market dropped 20 percent sequentially, and worryingly, year-over-year growth
slowed to a crawl, up just 2 percent.
Despite the seasonally down first quarter, the
enterprise router market continues to grow, albeit slowly. There is demand for
routers, but the quest for lower-priced equipment, competition, economic concerns,
and a weak public sector make stronger revenue growth elusive,”
said Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise networks and
video at Infonetics Research
