WAN Optimization Market Passes $1 billion in 2008, Up 29%

Market research firm Infonetics Research released the fourth quarter (4Q08) edition of its Enterprise Routers and WAN Optimization Appliances report.

“In 2008, the WAN optimization appliance market crossed the $1 billion mark for the first time, increasing 29% from the previous year–impressive results for a year in which the world’s economies slowed and many related networking segments struggled. The enterprise router market, on the other hand, fell in 2008, though the story varied from region to region: emerging economies actually did well, with sales up dramatically in Central and Latin America and decently in Asia Pacific, while North America and EMEA were down," said Matthias Machowinski, Directing Analyst, Enterprise Voice and Data, Infonetics Research.

Market research report highlights

• Quarterly worldwide sales of enterprise routers dropped below $1 billion for the first time in at least 9 quarters in 4Q08
• Mid-range and branch office routers held up better than the rest of the market
• 3Com/H3C and Huawei had sequential growth in enterprise router revenue in 4Q08; heavyweight Cisco was down 11% and Juniper dipped 1%
• The race for lead position in the WAN optimization appliance market intensified in 4Q08, with Cisco jockeying into first for the quarter and the year for worldwide revenue; Blue Coat is second, Riverbed is now third for 2008

Infonetics’ enterprise router and WAN optimization report tracks 3Com/H3C, ADTRAN, Blue Coat, Citrix, Cisco, Expand, Huawei, Ipanema, Juniper, Nortel, OneAccess, Riverbed, Siemens, and others. The report includes pivot tables and provides 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, including port detail (T1/E1/J1, T3/E3/J3, OC3/STM1, OC12/STM4).