Reuters
Worldwide router sales down in 3rd-qtr - report
Thursday November 14, 7:12 pm ET
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Global sales of routers used to direct network traffic fell 2 percent in the third quarter from the prior quarter as telecommunications and Internet service providers slashed spending, according to a report on Thursday.
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Router makers' sales totaled about $1.5 billion in the third quarter, down 2 percent from the second quarter and down about 15 percent from a year earlier, the Dell'Oro Group research firm said.
Cisco Systems Inc. (NasdaqNM:CSCO - News) remained the No. 1 network maker in the third quarter and Juniper Networks Inc. (NasdaqNM:JNPR - News) held on to its No. 2 rank, the firm said.
Cisco held about 85 percent of worldwide market share for routers and Juniper had about 9 percent of the market in the third quarter, both unchanged from the second quarter, Dell'Oro analyst Shin Umeda told Reuters.
Cisco and Juniper each saw revenues shrink 3 percent in the third quarter from the prior quarter, Umeda said.
"There is not a lot of major spending going on for large projects," Umeda said, noting that generally depressed telecom industry spending pulled down third-quarter router sales.
Sales of high-end routers, used by telecom and Internet service providers to handle large amounts of network traffic, sank 7 percent between the quarters, reflecting the long-running and brutal telecom industry downturn that has battered once high-flying network gear makers.
The benchmark American Stock Exchange Network Index (AMEX:^NWX - News) closed on Thursday down about 91 percent from its all-time high in September 2000.
Dell'Oro said low-end and mid-range routers, generally ordered by small and mid-sized companies and large "enterprise" customers such as corporations, government agencies and universities, rose 1 percent in the third quarter from the second quarter.
Enterprise customers bought routers generally to maintain networks, Umeda said. |
