Cisco continues to lose share in IP edge market: Study

CALIFORNIA, USA: Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei, Juniper and even ZTE continue to take market share from Cisco in the critical IP edge segment (the sum of IP edge routers and carrier Ethernet switches), finds market research firm Infonetics Research.

In its second quarter 2011 (2Q11) Service Provider Routers and Switches vendor market share report, Infonetics also adds that how so ever, Cisco is actually doing really well, with global IP edge revenue up 12 per cent in the second quarter of 2011, and still commands close to a third of the worldwide market.

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"The problem is that Cisco's competitors are growing faster: Huawei's IP edge revenue grew 66 per cent and Alcatel-Lucent's 22 per cent in 2Q11. Over the last year and a half (1Q10 to 2Q11), Cisco's IP edge revenue share declined from a high of 41.5 per cent to 32.2 per cent, while its closest competitors gained between two and five percentage points of share," notes Michael Howard, principal analyst, carrier networks, Infonetics Research.

In 2Q11, the IP edge segment (IP edge routers and carrier Ethernet switches) jumped 15 per cent sequentially and 21 per cent year-over-year (from 2Q10), now making up 78 per cent of the total market, adds the report.

The total service provider router and switch market is up 14 per cent sequentially to $3.8 billion worldwide. Year-over-year, the carrier router and switch market is up 19 per cent, adds the report.

Howard adds, "Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei have end-to-end portfolio solutions for broadband and mobile networks, and, according to our surveys, many service providers see Juniper and ALU as offering competitive technology at a better price point. Meanwhile, ZTE is growing in the mobile space, particularly mobile backhaul. For these and other reasons, these manufacturers are winning big deals in the IP edge space and gaining on Cisco."

Asia Pacific and North America contributed most of the overall market's lift in 2Q11; CALA (Central and Latin America) was up slightly and EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) contracted a bit.