WAN Optimization Market Crossed $1 Billion in 2008

The WAN optimization appliance market has crossed the $1 billion mark for the first time in 2008, according to market research firm Infonetics Research. The numbers are through the fourth quarter (4Q08) edition of its Enterprise Routers and WAN Optimization Appliances report.

 

According to Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst, Enterprise Voice and Data, Infonetics Research (News - Alert), this jump represents an increase of 29 percent from 2007. Machowinski finds the increase to be very impressive considering the economic downturn that saw the struggle of many related networking segments.

 

Machowinski noted that the enterprise router market fell in 2008, though the story varied from region to region. On the brighter side, the emerging economies actually did well. The sales went up dramatically in Central and Latin America and decently in Asia Pacific, while North America and EMEA were down.

 

The new Enterprise Routers and WAN Optimization Appliances report indicates that the quarterly global sales of enterprise routers dropped below $1 billion for the first time in at least 9 quarters in 4Q08. The mid-range and branch office routers showed better results in contrast to the rest of the market.

 

The report shows that both Cisco and Juniper dipped 11 percent and one percent respectively. Also, 3Com/H3C and Huawei (News - Alert) had sequential growth in enterprise router revenue in 4Q08. The companies were giving tough competition to other players in the WAN optimization appliance market in 4Q08. According to Infonetics Research, Cisco (News - Alert) had the coveted first position for the quarter and the year for worldwide revenue. Blue Coat and Riverbed were at the second and third positions for 2008.

 

The Enterprise Routers and WAN Optimization Appliances report tracks 3Com/H3C, ADTRAN (News - Alert), Blue Coat, Citrix, Cisco, Expand, Huawei, Ipanema, Juniper, Nortel, OneAccess, Riverbed, Siemens, and others. This informative report includes worldwide and regional market size, market share, analysis, and forecasts for WAN optimization appliances and high-end, mid-range, branch, and low-end/SOHO enterprise routers.