The past year’s economy woes impacted nearly every industry, from automotive to telecommunications. But at least one market segment is proving its resiliency as 2009 draws to a close.

New data from VDC Research Group shows that the total 2009 ATCA market will be comparable to 2008 levels, which reached $483 million. For 2010, VDC analysts predict the ATCA market to experience a return to stable growth along with the general economy. 

The data -- based on the group’s interviews with more than 50 network equipment providers – also shows that nearly 80 percent of Tier II and III NEPs are commercially implementing the ATCA form factor, while nearly 60 percent of Tier I NEPs are basing equipment on the standard, according to reports. By 2013, VDC Research Group (News - Alert) predicts a significant majority of these NEPs will source commercial-off-the-shelf ATCA building blocks and integrated platforms rather than build in-house.

The positive forecast seems to align with the latest numbers from advanced embedded solutions providers like RadiSys Corporation, whose second-quarter earnings for 2009 showed better-than-expected results based on the increasing demand for next-generation communications products.

Increasingly, telecom equipment vendors and systems integrators are turning to products made using ATCA. The technology is used for the creation of communications system components that can be reused for a variety of applications.

During the earnings call, RadiSys (News - Alert) executives highlighted the company’s ATCA growth, noting the company had received new ATCA business in deep packet inspection, network security, 3G wireless, PDSN (Packet Data Serving Node) and WAG (Wireless Access Gateway (News - Alert) applications.

 

“While some embedded computing segments will contract by double digits this year, our ATCA market sizing research indicates that 2009 will be within a few percentage points of what we saw in 2008,” said Eric Heikkila, director of VDC Research Group’s Embedded Hardware and Systems practice. “The key is the relative stability of investment in new applications, which has been a sweet spot for ATCA. Tier II and III Network Equipment Providers have broadly adopted ATCA and those are the firms producing much of the innovative equipment that is still driving new revenue for Service Providers.”