Enterprise router and switch markets up in 2Q06

Ibfinetics: The worldwide enterprise router market continues its slow and steady growth, with equipment sales inching up 2% between the first and second quarters of 2006 to reach $1.07 billion. Enterprise router unit shipments decreased 2% sequentially.

The worldwide Ethernet switch market also grew 2% in the second quarter, up to $3.7 billion, port shipments are growing well, but they're not growing well enough to offset the significant price decreases of 1G and 10G ports. As more companies adopt these new technologies and demand grows, particularly for 10G, the price declines will be offset, and stronger revenue growth should return, likely in 2007.

On a sequential basis, the enterprise networking market was sluggish in the second quarter, with small gains across most segments, but that was pretty much to be expected as it follows the typical seasonal pattern. 2006 is shaping up to be another successful year, with many segments growing in the double-digits.

2Q06 Router Highlights

• Cisco continues to lead the total enterprise router market by far, with nearly 3/4 of worldwide revenue share; Huawei is 2nd, Juniper 3rd

• 47% of enterprise router revenue was from high-end routers, 46% from mid-range, and 7% from low-end

• 40% of enterprise router revenue was from North America, 35% from EMEA, 19% from Asia Pacific, 6% from CALA

2Q06 Switch Highlights

• Cisco is the worldwide leader in the fixed configuration switch segment, with more than half the worldwide share of revenue

• NETGEAR leads in shipments of unmanaged fixed configuration switch ports, while D-Link is first for revenue

• worldwide application switch revenue totaled $205 million, up 3% sequentially, and up 15% from a year ago

The Enterprise Routers Publ 20060830