CISCO LEADS NORTH AMERICAN CARRIER IP ROUTER MARKET; BUT JUNIPER UP AND COMING.

A new market share report by RHK, Inc. shows Cisco continuing to dominate the North American IP router market but beginning to lose market share to Juniper in the first half of 2001. According to the new report, Switching and Routing 1H01 Market Share, Cisco held 70% while Juniper captured 25% of the overall market for IP routing, which reached $972 million in 1H01.

In the core of the network, Cisco held a 60% revenue share versus Juniper's 33% share. This share represents an 18-point decline for Cisco and a 12-point increase for Juniper since the end of 2000. Avici followed with a 7% market share, up from 1% in 2000. This market segment, which includes equipment that directs traffic to the optical core at OC-48 or OC-192 speeds, reached $535 million in 1H01.

"Although Cisco started shipping OC-192 interfaces earlier this year to better compete with the M160 router, Juniper still managed to gain ground," remarks Rosalyn Roseboro, Senior Analyst in RHK's Switching and Routing service. She adds, "Cisco's OC-192 product may have been affected by current market conditions, as carriers try to absorb excess capacity in their IP networks."

In the edge IP aggregation carrier router market, which reached $437 million in 1H01, Cisco continues to control the segment, but the company lost significant share to Juniper. Cisco's market share declined from 91% to 81%, while Juniper's share increased from 7% to 14%. Unisphere and Ericsson followed with 4% and 1%, respectively. Edge IP aggregation includes routers that perform line aggregation through logical channelized interfaces, as well as quality of service marking.

"At the edge, we are seeing Juniper continue to gain traction with its M5 and M10 products," remarks Roseboro. "By no means has Cisco taken this lightly. It has taken steps to broaden the capabilities and form factors currently available in its edge portfolio."

The new report states that the switching and routing market has been hurt by the downturn in carrier spending -- a situation that is likely to continue for the next 12-18 months. New vendors are expected to surface with more powerful solutions and/or lower price points. However, RHK does not expect any new players to have a significant impact on the market in the near term.

"Until carrier spending picks up, the markets will continue to be dominated by the established vendors," Roseboro says. "We expect that once conditions improve, some of the products that are in trials will find their way into service provider deployments."