Analysts See Both Challenges and Opportunities for Alcatel-Lucent
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The company faces a daunting
challenge, but some analysts said theres also opportunity. Nomura Research
analyst Stuart Jeffrey said in a research note May 16, when word of Alcatel-Lucents core router push began
to spread, that he expects Ciscowhich currently owns 54 percent of the core
router marketcould see that number drop by as much as 10 percent by 2014, with
Junipers share dropping by 4 percent.
"Alcatel-Lucent has captured a
24 percent share of the edge router market over the past 10 years, Jeffrey
wrote. If the company can launch a compelling solution and leverage its
customer relationships, then it may see faster share gains in the core routing
market.
Zeus Kerravala, principal analyst at
ZK Research, said the companys experience in edge routers will give it some
momentum in its core router strategy.
Theyve been building router
technology for a while, Kerravala told eWEEK, adding that companies
hes spoken with have said Alcatel-Lucents edge router platform is a good
product. Its on par with Cisco and Juniper.
Alcatel-Lucent officials also could
combine the edge and core router platforms to offer carriers some kind of
end-to-end story similar to what Cisco offers, he said. For its part, Juniper
doesnt have that same sort of story, Kerravala said.
However, Juniper officials are
already pushing back. The company May 22 announced a capacity upgrade to its TXP routing system for
its T4000 and T1600 core routers. According to Juniper officials, the TXP
system upgrade more than doubles the routers capacity and extends the lifespan
of the products.
"Service providers are
dependent on the infrastructure they build to deliver profitable services, but
they must also be nimble and flexible to scale these services, Daniel Hua,
senior vice president and general manager of Junipers Core Business Unit, said
in a statement. Investment protection, operational continuity and future-ready
scalability are critical components in infrastructure purchasing decisions.
Expanding the capabilities of Juniper's TXP multi-chassis system, which is
deployed in numerous networks worldwide, is clearly aligned with this
strategy."
Cisco officials also have been
touting their accomplishments. In a May 18 post on the companys CiscoHome blog, Surya Panditi, senior vice
president and general manager of Ciscos Service Provider Routing Group, said
the vendors core router business has gained market share for the past seven
quarters, and 12 of the last 13 quarters.
The continuing explosion in IP
traffic and the proliferation of connected devices and applications is
dramatically transforming network traffic patterns, making network intelligence
more important than ever, he wrote in the blog, nothing that the CRS-3 router
has hit $1 billion in total orders and that Cisco has shipped almost 3,000
systems.
