The worldwide service provider edge router and carrier Ethernet switch market declined eight percent in the first half of 2018 compared to 2017, according to a new report from Dell’Oro Group. Multiple factors drove market decline, but potential rebound from new products is on the horizon.
Some highlights:
- The top four vendors, in rank order were Cisco, Huawei, Nokia, and Juniper.
- Growth in the Europe partially offset softness in North America and Asia Pacific regions.
“The confluence of tepid telecom spending, maturing 4G mobile backhaul deployments, and new product introductions have contributed to the reduction in demand for routers and switches,” said Shin Umeda, Vice President at Dell’Oro Group. “Telecom operators in the US have pared down their spending well below historical levels as they evaluate new technologies and architectures for 5G backhaul, and on top of that, the massive network buildouts in China are slowing after years of growth. On the positive side, Cisco, Juniper, and Nokia have introduced major upgrades to their edge router portfolios that should bring customers back in the coming quarters,” added Umeda.
