Cisco Boosts Share of Router Revenue for 4th-Straight Quarter
By Scott Lanman
Redwood City, California, May 16 (Bloomberg) -- Cisco Systems Inc.'s leading market share from sales of high-speed Internet traffic routers increased for the fourth-straight quarter, while Juniper Networks Inc.'s portion dropped to the lowest in two years, a researcher said.
Cisco had a 73 percent share of revenue from equipment to direct Web traffic in the first quarter, up from 71 percent in the prior period, said Karolin Di Cristina, a spokeswoman for researcher Dell'Oro Group. Juniper's share slumped to 21 percent from 25 percent. Total sales fell 9.5 percent to $403.4 million from $445.6 million in the fourth quarter, Dell'Oro said.
Cisco, the largest maker of equipment to link computers, has gained market share as sales to large organizations, or so-called enterprise customers, increase. Juniper's revenue has declined more steeply because it sells almost exclusively to big network operators such as WorldCom Inc., many of which are reducing spending by at least 20 percent this year.
Sunnyvale, California-based Juniper, founded six years ago, gained market share from Cisco after introducing a faster router in 1998. San Jose, California-based Cisco last year introduced a router that caught up with the speed of Juniper's. Last month Juniper unveiled a product to handle higher traffic volume.
Juniper's market share peaked at 38 percent in the first quarter of 2001, while Cisco's bottomed at 59 percent. Total router sales dropped 46 percent from $753 million in the year- earlier period.
Avici Systems Inc., the No. 3 maker of high-capacity routers, held steady at about 2 percent of the market during the fourth quarter, according to Redwood City, California-based Dell'Oro.
Cisco shares rose 35 cents to $16.91 in midafternoon trading, while Juniper climbed 30 cents to $9.96. Juniper shares had dropped 49 percent this year through yesterday and Cisco's had declined 8.6 percent. |
