IP Communications

According to a new Infonetics Research report, Juniper Networks is best in class for IP edge routers and Cisco (News - Alert) got the top spot in Carrier Ethernet Switches.

Those were the top line findings in the firm’s latest market research analysis report titled, “CES (News - Alert) and Router Vendor Leadership: Global Service Provider Survey.”

"In our carrier Ethernet switch and IP edge router survey, service providers rated market leader Cisco the highest overall for carrier Ethernet switches, further validating their CES leadership position - although they were beat by the competition in some categories,” said Michael Howard (News - Alert), co-founder and principal analyst for carrier and data center networks for Infonetics Research. “Juniper is first among IP edge router manufacturers in the survey, with the highest overall rating from service providers.”

Research analysts at the firm said that purchase decision makers at 27 carriers from Europe Middle East and Africa, North America, and Asia Pacific were polled about their familiarity with and perceptions of equipment manufacturers.

Infonetics said that service providers were asked to rate carrier Ethernet switch and IP edge router vendors on 8 criteria, which were technology, product roadmap, security, management, price-to-performance ratio, pricing, financial stability, and service and support.

Officials at the company said that the service providers rated six CES vendors - Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert), Cisco, Ericsson-Redback, Extreme, Foundry, and Huawei - and six router vendors -Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Ericsson-Redback, Huawei, Juniper, and Tellabs (News - Alert) - on the eight criteria. Officials added that router and switch vendor ZTE was named in several survey responses.

“There are a few other nice surprises in the survey; for example, Foundry receives the highest average rating for CES price to performance, or value, even above Huawei," Howard said.

Infonetics said that the respondents were various related fields such as incumbent carriers, competitive operators, MSOs, and wireless operators, and together accounted for revenues of $65 billion and capital expenses of $273 billion, which represented 22 percent of the world's telecom capital expenses and 16 percent of the world's carrier revenue.

According to research from Dell’Oro Group as part of the Ethernet Switch 5-Year Forecast Report, the total Ethernet Switch market will decline almost 20 percent in 2009. This is going to be the sharpest decline since 2001, but after this dip the market will begin to rebound in 2010.