WAN Optimization Market up 71% From 2006 to 2007 and Reaching $800 Million Last Year

Worldwide sales of WAN optimization appliances jumped 71% from 2006 to 2007, to over $800 million, says Infonetics Research in its latest Enterprise Routers and WAN Optimization Appliances report.

“The WAN optimization market had a good year, as vendors ramped up shipments of new products, and Riverbed went into growth mode as a public company,” said Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise voice and data at Infonetics Research. “Things were a little quieter on the enterprise router front, due to deterioration in the low-end of the market. Cisco’s recent announcement of the ASR 1000 should inject some excitement into the market in 2008, and keep the high-end router battle between Cisco and Juniper worth watching.”

The report also shows worldwide enterprise router sales slowed 2% from 3Q07 to 4Q07 and are up just 1% for the year, reaching $4.3 billion in 2007. Enterprise router unit shipments are down 5% for the quarter and flat for the year.

Other report highlights:

Unit shipments of WAN optimization appliances are forecast to double between 2007 and 2010
Worldwide unit shipments of enterprise routers are forecast to pass the 3 million mark in 2010
High-end enterprise router revenue grew 5% in 2007 from 2006
The branch office segment is the bright spot in the enterprise router market, with unit shipments up 11% 4Q06 to 4Q07, and the only segment to grow unit shipments in 2007
In 2007, Cisco maintains its commanding lead in the enterprise router market with 75% of worldwide revenue; Juniper increased revenue by 30%

Infonetics’ report tracks WAN optimization appliances and high-end, mid-range, branch, and low-end/SOHO enterprise routers, and includes port detail (T1/E1/J1, T3/E3/J3, OC3/STM1, OC12/STM4). Market share, which is now shown in flexible pivot tables, and forecasts are updated quarterly and cover all regions. Companies tracked include 3Com/H3C, ADTRAN, Allot, Blue Coat, Cisco, Huawei, Ipanema, Juniper, Nortel, OneAccess, Packeteer, Riverbed, Siemens, and others.

Infonetics Research