June 22, 2005 Scottsdale, AZ -- Driven by demand for new business VPN services, upcoming consumer triple-play services, and evolution to converged networks, the combined edge and core router market's sales will grow from $3.8 billion in 2004 to about $8.4 billion in 2009, according to a report from In-Stat.

The report says that core router sales will grow at a stronger rate than edge router sales over the next five years. According to the report, most major carriers plan to migrate from their existing multiple networks for different services to a converged MPLS core network carrying multiple types of traffic including Layer 2 (Frame Relay, ATM, Ethernet), IP, and voice traffic. The report projects that this trend will spur sales of core routers.

"Multiservice edge routers will be in demand to support both business services and residential triple-play services, and to enable service providers to consolidate multiple edge functions on a single box," maintains Henry Goldberg, an In-Stat analyst. "High-capacity core routers will carry multiple types of traffic in the backbones of service provider converged MPLS core networks."

The report's highlights include the following:

* Worldwide edge router sales grew by 37% in 2004 from 2003 to $2.1 billion. Worldwide core router sales grew by 30% in 2004 to $1.7 billion.

* Cisco remained the dominant vendor in edge and core router sales in 2004; Juniper was the second-leading vendor in both markets.

* The number of edge router vendors has increased substantially, creating a much more competitive market.

The report, "Edge/Core Router Vendors Focus on Triple-Play, VPNs, and Convergence," covers the global edge/core router market, including extensive analysis of market drivers and trends impacting the markets. The report provides detailed profiles of 10 leading edge router vendors and six leading core router vendors, and contains unit shipment and revenue forecasts through 2009. The report is priced at $2,995.