Global enterprise router shipments down 9% in Q1 2005

Worldwide enterprise router revenue totaled $750 mln in Q1 2005, down 9% from Q4 2004, and 20% lower than a year ago, while unit shipments increased 4%. This trend is expected to continue, with unit shipments growing to 1.9 mln in 2008, says Infonetics Research. The increase in overall unit shipments comes mostly from the burgeoning secure enterprise router segment, which jumped 19% to 53,000 units between Q4 2004 and Q1 2005, while revenue dipped 3% to $96.4 mln. Meanwhile, the standard enterprise router segment eked out a mere 1% unit shipment increase while revenue dropped 9% to $653 mln in Q1 2005.

Cisco continues to lead the worldwide enterprise router market by a wide margin, capturing the majority of both revenue and unit market share. Vanguard is second for revenue, Allied Telesyn is second in unit shipments. High-end routers make up 50% of worldwide enterprise router revenue, mid-range routers make up 47%, and low-end/SOHO routers make up 2%. Secure routers now make up 13% of worldwide revenue, up 1% from Q4 2004, and will grow to 27% of the market by 2008. 41% of total enterprise router revenue was from North America, 36% from EMEA, 19% from Asia Pacific, and 3% from CALA.