Huawei market share in the global telecom carrier router and switch market dropped to fourth, while Cisco maintained its lead, Juniper rose to second and Alcatel-Lucent moved to third, said Infonetics Research.

Infonetics Research said the software-defined networking and network functions virtualization (NFV) transformation is making carriers be more cautious with their spending.

Michael Howard, principal analyst for carrier networks and co-founder of Infonetics Research, said: “The current generation of high-capacity edge and core routers can be nursed along for a while as the detailed steps of the SDN-NFV transformation are defined by each service provider-and many of the largest operators in the world are involved, including AT&T, BT, Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica, NTT, China Telecom, and China Mobile.”

The report said there is intensifying focus on multiple CDNs (content delivery networks) and smart traffic management across various routes and alternative routes to make routers and optical gear cooperate more closely.

The global carrier router and switch market, including IP edge and core routers and carrier Ethernet switches (CES) increased 2 percent to $3.2 billion in Q1 2014, but decreased 13 percent from Q4 2013.

Revenue for product segments – IP edge and core routers and CES – declined by double digits sequentially in Q1 2014.

Revenue from major geographical regions (NA, EMEA, APAC and CALA) declined from the prior quarter, while N. America improved from the same period a year ago.

Infonetics is projecting 5-year (2013-2018) CAGRs of 4.3 percent for edge routers, 2.9 percent for core routers, and 0.7 percent for CES.

TelecomLead News Team