Cisco continues to be the service providers' top-choice core/edge router and carrier Ethernet switch (CES) vendor, according to a new IHS Infonetics report.
In conducting the survey, IHS interviewed 25 global service providers who have deep knowledge of their companies' data networks and have planning and purchase decision influence for routers and CES. These service providers together control 33 percent of worldwide telecom capex.
The top five router/switch vendor selection criteria are price-to-performance ratio, product reliability, pricing, service and support, and technology innovation. Besides being named the top router/switch manufacturer, participating service providers named Cisco number one in service and support, technology innovation, 100 GE, data center interconnection leadership, and mobile backhaul (a segment in which they tied with Huawei).
One of the trends that is starting to have an impact on the router/switch market is the data center interconnection (DCI) market, one that IHS forecasts will grow to be about 5 to 10 percent of the router market in the next few years. Survey respondents named Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), Brocade, Cisco, Juniper and Huawei, in alphabetical order, as the leaders in the DCI market. Release