25 February 2003 -- Sales of routers fell 15% in 2002 to USD6.1bn, according to Dell'Oro Group's 4Q02 Quarterly Router Report.
The decline was driven by reduced sales of high-performance routers typically deployed by telecoms service providers to manage and carry Internet traffic. "The decline in the high-end router market was highly correlated to the drop in spending by service providers. Our analysis indicates that capital spending on wireline infrastructure fell approximately 35% last year," said principal analyst Shin Umeda.
The market for routers purchased by enterprises and small and medium businesses fared better, declining just 4%.