Next-Generation Network Gear Sales Up 70% In 3rd Q: Report

Sales of next-generation network (NGN) equipment experienced a sharp rise in the third quarter, as carriers and service providers continue to deploy advanced network services.

According to Dittberner Associates, NGN equipment shipments were up 70%, with 27.3 million media gateway, softswitch and integrated voice over IP (VoIP) ports shipping last quarter. Worldwide VoIP port shipments alone rose 67% in the same period. Although revenues were also up, pricing pressures have kept them from matching the steep rise in port shipments. Revenues were up 49% worldwide. VoIP revenues reached $609 million in the third quarter, while Voice over Packet; IP/ATM/TDM revenues hit $671 million.

According to Dittberner research analyst Leena Deshpande, the strong growth nis likely to continue for the foreseeable future. "With the acceleration of large scale projects by carriers to upgrade their packet networks, we will see visible continued growth worldwide in terms of VoIP port shipments in the upcoming quarters," she said in a statement.

China's Huawei Technologies displaced Nortel as the dominant player, shipping 12.36 million VoIP ports last quarter. Siemens continues to control the second largest share of the market, with 16%, while Nortel's market share slipped to 11%. According to Dittberner, Huawei's relative growth due largely to the 202% increase in the Asia Pacific NGN market, and an 81% growth in the Caribbean and Latin America. Due to network consolidation, the North American Market actually shrank by 12% last quarter.