Carrier Ethernet Switch/Router Market Returns to Growth With Strong Showing in Asia, Heavy Reading Reports

Worldwide sales of carrier Ethernet switch/routers (CESRs) grew 5 percent quarter-over-quarter in the second quarter of 2009 to $452 million, according to the Carrier Ethernet Switch/Router Quarterly Market Tracker service published by Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com), the market research division of TechWeb's Light Reading.

Heavy Reading projects the global CESR market will continue its recovery in the second half of 2009 to end the year at about $1.8 billion. Prospects appear good for the CESR market to reach $2.78 billion by 2013, due to underlying market fundamentals favoring a shift from legacy Sonet/SDH- and ATM-based networks toward high-performance carrier Ethernet/MPLS-based networks.

"The worldwide CESR market generally demonstrated signs of increased stabilization, with growth in Asia, Latin America, and North America more than offsetting continued weakness in Europe," said Stan Hubbard, Senior Analyst for Heavy Reading and author of the CESR Quarterly Market Tracker. "Double-digit sequential revenue growth by No. 3 CESR supplier Huawei and No. 4 ZTE propelled Asia to a new all-time regional quarterly market share high of 38 percent. Meanwhile, Latin America had an impressive triple-digit jump, fueled by a particularly strong performance by No. 2 Alcatel-Lucent in the region."

The market managed a recovery in 2Q09 despite intensifying vendor competition, service providers' continued limited access to capital, and the sluggish global economic recovery. "Increased competition has been especially harmful to Cisco, which lacks a next-generation flagship CESR platform," said Hubbard. "Today, there are two dozen suppliers of CESR platforms. That's double the number of players in 3Q07, when Cisco owned 58% of a market that was actually larger than in 2Q09.

Heavy Reading estimates that No. 1 Cisco's market share fell another 4 points sequentially in 2Q09 and closed 19 points lower than its share high in 3Q07. No. 2 Alcatel-Lucent held steady, while No. 3 Huawei and No. 4 ZTE each gained several share points in 2Q09. Brocade was No. 5 and Extreme was No. 6 in the most recent quarter.

Heavy Reading's Carrier Ethernet Switch/Router Quarterly Market Tracker delivers a complete accounting of telecom equipment manufacturer revenues in CESR sector, including quarter-by-quarter revenue and market share breakouts for each supplier, sales by geographic region and application, and revenue projections through 2013 by region and application. The quarterly tracking service also analyzes each vendor's market strategy and identifies and analyzes customer wins, providing granular insight into this emerging market sector unavailable from other sources. It provides a comprehensive list of more than 290 operators and other entities around the world that have purchased CESR platforms.

The Heavy Reading report analyzes 21 vendors that are now generating sales from CESR products or could be in a position to roll out CESR products within the next 12 months. Equipment vendors examined include Alcatel-Lucent, ANDA Networks, Ciena, Cisco Systems, ECI Telecom, Ericsson, Extreme Networks, Foundry Networks, Hitachi Cable, Huawei, IBM, Juniper Networks, Maipu, MRV Communications, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel Networks, Orckit-Corrigent, Telco Systems, Tejas Networks, Tellabs, and ZTE.

The CESR Quarterly Market Tracker is distributed in PowerPoint and Excel formats. Quarterly reports may be purchased individually or as part of an annual subscription service.

For more information, or to receive a PowerPoint demo of the CESR Quarterly Market Tracker, please contact:

  Dave Williams
  Sales Director, Heavy Reading
  858-485-8870
  dave.williams@heavyreading.com

  Press/analyst contact:
  Dennis Mendyk
  Managing Director, Heavy Reading
  201-587-2154
  mendyk@heavyreading.com


  About Heavy Reading

Heavy Reading is an independent market research organization offering quantitative analysis of telecom technology to service providers, vendors, and investors. Its mandate is to provide the comprehensive competitive analysis needed today for the deployment of profitable networks based on next-generation hardware and software.

About TechWeb

TechWeb (techweb.com/aboutus), the global leader in business technology media, is an innovative business focused on serving the needs of technology decision-makers and marketers worldwide. TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed media brands in the business technology market. Today, more than 13.3 million* business technology professionals actively engage in our communities created around our global face-to-face events Interop, Web 2.0, Black Hat and VoiceCon; online resources such as the TechWeb Network, Light Reading, Intelligent Enterprise, InformationWeek.com, bMighty.com, and The Financial Technology Network; and the market leading, award-winning InformationWeek, TechNet Magazine, MSDN Magazine, Wall Street & Technology magazines. TechWeb also provides end-to-end services ranging from next-generation performance marketing, integrated media, research, and analyst services. TechWeb is a division of United Business Media, a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $1.6 billion.

  * 13.3 million business decision-makers: based on # of monthly connections

  About United Business Media Limited

UBM (UBM.L) focuses on two principal activities: worldwide information distribution, targeting and monitoring; and, the development and monetization of B2B communities and markets. UBM's businesses inform markets and serve professional commercial communities - from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewelry traders, from farmers to pharmacists - with integrated events, online, print and business information products. Our 6,500 staff in more than 30 countries are organized into specialist teams that serve these communities, bringing buyers and sellers together, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently. For more information, go to http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/.

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SOURCE: Heavy Reading

CONTACT: Dave Williams, Sales Director, Heavy Reading, +1-858-485-8870,
dave.williams@heavyreading.com; or Press/analysts, Dennis Mendyk, Managing
Director, Heavy Reading, +1-201-587-2154, mendyk@heavyreading.com

Web Site: http://www.heavyreading.com/