Sluggish growth in enterprise router market, report says

The global enterprise router market may be up 8 percent year over year, but it's down 9 percent between quarters, adding up to sluggish growth hampered by a tough economy.

That's the word according to market research firm Infonetics, whose latest report reveals a global enterprise router market seeking -- and failing -- to get its mojo back. (The market includes everything from high-end routers to SOHO "small-office, home-office" devices.)

The play-by-play:

• Global market declined nine percent from 4Q11 to 1Q12, to $834 million. Year over year, revenue is up two percent; unit shipments were up four percent.
• Sales in North America are down 10 percent sequentially, but up 8 percent year over year.
• Sales in Europe were down sequentially and year over year.
• Sales in China were down 20 percent sequentially -- to be fair, last quarter spiked -- but up 2 percent year over year.
• Though it was down sequentially, low-end revenue was up 44 percent year over year.
• High-end routers were also down sequentially but "held up well" over the year, thanks to buyers making necessary core network upgrades.
• The mid-range took it on the nose, though. To blame: buyers using lower-cost equipment; declining purchases from the public sector, which dominates this segment.

"The enterprise router market continues to grow, albeit slowly," Infonetics analyst Matthias Machowinski said. "There is demand for routers, but the quest for lower-priced equipment, competition, economic concerns, and a weak public sector make stronger revenue growth elusive.”

Despite all this, Cisco increased its overall industry lead a bit. It's now at 74.7 percent market share.

...and here are your top five enterprise router vendors:

1. Cisco
2. HP
3. OneAccess
4. ADTRAN
5. Huawei

Huawei posted the biggest gains, with unit shipments up 130 percent and revenue up 79 percent year over year.