CANBERRA: According to a recent report by Synergy Research Group, worldwide service provider router revenues in the third quarter of 2015 were approximately $3.3 billion, down 3% year over year. Of the total, the majority 62% was contributed by edge routers, followed by 21% by core routers and 17% by Ethernet-based routers and switches (access-aggregation devices).
Routers are telecom infrastructure devices used to deliver data packets from one network to another. Routers are located at gateways, the places where two or more networks connect. Several industry analysts have estimated that the global router market will reach around $72 — $73 billion by 2022.
Massive growth in the usage of mobile devices has heightened transportation of data traffic substantially. In order to manage this burgeoning demand for photo, video and online data services, telecom operators are required to install more routers to ensure smooth transfer of data packets.
The Synergy Research Group report revealed that North America remains the biggest contributor of worldwide router revenues (36%), followed by APAC (Asia-Pacific Australia and China), EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Latin America.
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO – Analyst Report) retains its position as the market leader worldwide. Interestingly, Juniper Networks Inc. (JNPR – Analyst Report) has climbed to the second spot ahead of Alcatel-Lucent (ALU – Analyst Report) and Huawei Technologies. Notably, Alcatel-Lucent is currently in the final phase of being acquired by Nokia Corp. (NOK – Analyst Report).
The most important finding of the Synergy Research Group report is that while Cisco maintains strong growth in both APAC and EMEA regions, Juniper has taken the lead in the lucrative U.S. market. However, globally, Cisco is far ahead of its peers. Notably, for the next 7–10 years, the major thrust for service provider routers is likely to come from the APAC region.
