Worldwide router market sales in the third quarter of this year declined sequentially 2 percent to US$1.5 billion, according to figures released Friday by Dell'Oro Group Inc.
Cisco Systems Inc. and Juniper Networks Inc. each experienced a 3 percent decline in revenue from the second quarter to the third. Demand for high-end routers fell by 7 percent as telecommunications and Internet service providers continued to scale back capital expenditures, the market tracker stated.
Low-end and midrange routers, generally purchased by both small businesses and larger enterprises, grew 1 percent in the third quarter.
In optical gear, Lucent Technologies Inc. and Siemens AG bolted to the top of the list from middle of the pack in the third quarter's $1.64 billion market, which was down 14 percent from the previous quarter.
Lucent jumped to No. 1 from No. 3, and Siemens leaped to No. 2 from No. 5. Siemens' revenue increased 19 percent from the second quarter, while Lucent's declined by 13 percent, Dell'Oro says.
The new leaders bumped out Nortel and Alcatel, respectively. Nortel, now the No. 3 player, had a 22 percent decline in optical revenue from the second quarter, Dell'Oro says.
SONET/SDH equipment accounted for 67 percent of the total market in the third quarter, Dell'Oro found. Siemens was the only vendor with sequential growth in SONET/SDH.