Carriers have been cautious with spending on routers and switches, with the market growing only 4% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2008, according to a new report by Infonetics Research.
The market is down 13% year-over-year in the first quarter this year, "indicating the full effect of operator protective behavior in the thick of the downturn" and showing the deepest sequential decline in years.
"With internet and data traffic growing unabated, service providers are going to have to upgrade their equipment to keep up or risk losing customers,\' said Michael Howard, principal analyst at Infonetics Research.