Dell’Oro Group finds in its latest Router & Carrier Ethernet Switch 5-year Forecast Report that worldwide demand for edge routers and Carrier Ethernet switches will drive modest growth in the overall service provider (SP) and Carrier Ethernet switch market over the period to 2021.
Dell'Oro notes that over the 5-year period the SP core router market is expected to decline slightly.
Highlights of Dell'Oro's router and Carrier Ethernet switch report include:1. The SP core router market will continue to grow in 2017 driven by demand in China, while from 2018 the market will decline as projects in China are completed and IP traffic patterns continue to shift to more localised data sources.
2. 100 Gigabit Ethernet port shipments will experience double-digit growth each year over the forecast period, with 400 Gigabit Ethernet port shipments are expected to begin in 2019.
Regarding the report, Alam Tamboli, senior analyst at Dell’Oro Group, commented, "In the near term, operators will increase capacity of their IP router and switch networks to accommodate traffic from fixed broadband access networks, however, in 2019, there will be increased demand for mobile backhaul networks as operators actively build out their 5G networks… higher capacity and topology changes required for 5G will lead to an upgrade cycle of mobile backhaul networks".
