The global service provider router and switch market, including IP edge and core routers and carrier Ethernet switches, declined 5% in Q3 2012, both sequentially and from the year-ago 3rd quarter, to just shy of $3.4 billion, according to Infonetics' 3rd quarter 2012 (3Q12) Service Provider Routers and Switches report, which tracks and analyzes IP edge router, IP core router, and carrier Ethernet switch (CES) vendors and markets.
Some highlights of the report:
- Asia Pacific is the only region up in 3Q12 over 2Q12, albeit slightly, built on a 31% spike from Japan.
- In the router-only segment (IP edge and core routers), Cisco maintains its strong market share lead, but in a shakeup in the 3-way race for the next 3 leadership positions, Juniper took back the #2 spot from Huawei, which dropped to #4, while Alcatel-Lucent held steady in 3rd in 3Q12.
- Cisco, Juniper, Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei together account for 88% of total IP router revenue (edge and core) in 3Q12.
"The performance of the router/switch market roughly reflects economic conditions, and true to form economic weakness in Europe, North America, and Latin America drove down IP router and switch revenue in the third quarter," notes Michael Howard, Infonetics Research's co-founder and principal analyst for carrier networks. "EMEA posted another negative quarter amid the ongoing fiscal crisis in Europe, and we may not see much of the usual final quarter budget flush, as it seems just as the European Commission gets closer to economic steadiness, more negative reports arrive. Although North America is showing positive economic signs, carrier router/switch revenue is down 2% from the year-ago quarter, and Latin America is slowing as many of the year-long projects in South America and Mexico wind down."
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