Dell'Oro Group: Avici, Cisco, Juniper, and Redbackleading in sales, according to Dell'Oro Group's latest report. High-end router revenue dropped during the quarter, although units shipped remained steady, because increasingly cost-conscious customers shifted from expensive high-speed ports (10 Gbps and 2.5 Gbps) to lower-speed, lower-priced ports (155 Mbps and 10/100 Mbps Ethernet), according to Dell'Oro.
Because most of the new features are add-ons, router vendors "will not get people to replace existing equipment; they're going to wait for extraordinary advances," although demand for routed circuits at common T1 speeds is still strong, says Dell'Oro Group founder Tam Dell'Oro.
The market evolution means Cisco's dominance could slip, since the trend of adding features such as voice, security, and IP services to routers means new vendors are moving into core router markets, says Jon Cordova, directing analyst for access networks at market research firm Infonetics Research. Cisco has about 85% of the total router market, but its share could slip to 60% or 70% as the trend continues, Cordova says. |
