FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — The enterprise router market grew 8 per cent in North America in Q1 from last year, representing the best regional performance in a quarter that saw the global market grow only 2 per cent.
The worldwide enterprise router market hit US$834 million in the first quarter of 2012, according to Infonetics Research. And though it was up a healthy amount from last year, sales in North America declined 10 per cent from last quarter.
Globally, the market declined 9 per cent from Q4.
Sales in Europe fell from last quarter and last year due to the ongoing debt crisis in that region, Infonetics found. That’s likely to continue, given political uncertainty and austerity measures being enacted or considered in the eurozone.
In China, the market dropped 20 per cent sequentially and rose only 2 per cent from last year.
Low-end/SOHO router revenue posted the largest year-over-year increase, up 44 per cent, Infonetics found. But they were down sequentially, as were high-end routers, which “are holding up well” on an annual basis as core upgrades proceed, the firm notes.
Mid-range routers had the poorest performance of the quarter, as buyers substituted those units with lower-cost alternatives and purchases from the public sector continued to decline, Infonetics found.
Market leader Cisco Systeims Inc. modestly increased its overall enterprise router share during the last two quarters, posting its largest revenue market share in 12 months, at 74.7 per cent in Q1. Huawei Technologies Co. saw its revenue jump 79 per cent from last year and unit shipments climb 130 per cent.
In terms of unit share, the top five enterprise router vendors in 1Q12 are Cisco, Hewlett-Packard Co., OneAccess, ADTRAN and Huawei, according to Infonetics.