Communications and Technology Industry Research

During the fourth quarter of 2006, global sales of service provider switching and routing equipment grew to $2.5 billion, research firm and consultancy Ovum-RHK said Friday.

 

Their report looks at quarterly global sales for North America, Europe and Asia network operators.

 

According to their findings, the total growth represents an eight percent increase over the previous quarter, and a seventeen percent increase compared to just a year ago.

 

A driving factor of this adoption is "NGN transformation and the impact of video," commented Mark Seery, Vice President, Switching and Routing, at Ovum-RHK in a statement. He also noted the continued growth of IP and Ethernet over MPLS.

 

Some of the highlights for the technology focused market segments outlined in a news release included, a 19 percent increase in IP/MPLS core sales at $535 million, versus findings in the fourth quarter of 2005.

 

 IP/ Ethernet sales were also up 12 percent at $439 million.

 

"Alcatel (News - Alert) and Cisco continue to experience strong growth, even in what is developing into a trend of hard-to-predict fourth-quarter spending," Seery also commented.

 

In the application focused market segments, the news release points to specific increases in IP transport and services to $933 million, which was up 36 percent from 4Q05, and Subscriber Services/ BRAS, which were up 5 percent from 4Q05 at $232 million.