The march toward more software-defined networks will produce an ever-mounting pile of hard dollars for the world's suppliers of telecom and datacom network products. According to Infonetics Research, a cumulative $1 trillion will be spent on telecom and data equipment and software over the next five years.
"Despite the fact that enterprises and service providers are in the middle of massive network upheavals due to the evolution of software-defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV) technology, the telecom and datacom networking equipment and software market is on track to grow annually through 2018 with the fastest growth coming in 2015," said Jeff Wilson, principal analyst at Infonetics Research, in a statement.
Worldwide, sales of telecom and datacom equipment and software hit $183 billion in 2013, up 3% from the prior year.
Based on global revenue, Cisco Systems continues to lead the telecom and datacom network equipment and software market with 19%, followed by Huawei, Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, and ZTE – the same top five as the year prior, just in a slightly different order.
"Looking at just the service provider equipment space, we're seeing a shakeup in vendor market share, with Huawei leapfrogging longtime number-one Ericsson to take the top spot in 2013. While Huawei's been doing well in a number of regions, China's economy is a key factor keeping Huawei's growth so strong,” said Michael Howard, an Infonetics co-founder and the co-author of the report.
