Routers show bright spot for broadband and networking markets

Segments in the broadband and on-site networking markets are showing different levels of success amid consolidation in the Ethernet space, reports IDC.

The analyst has published its latest quarterly Enterprise Networks Tracker, showing investments into technologies like Ethernet for internal infrastructure and connections to external broadband links.

Overall, the industry has seen a fall in revenues over the past year, declining 9.1 per cent, but routers - which help to guide network traffic to its intended destination when multiple signals are handled at once - are performing better over the long term.

In spite of a quarterly fall in performance in Q1, routers scored a 6.9 per cent annual increase in value as they countered the consolidation in the sector as a whole.

Rohit Mehra, director of enterprise communications infrastructure for IDC, says: "IDC believes that Q1 2011 was a quarter with the market taking a pause after the strong growth from previous quarters."

However, growth - albeit at a more moderate pace - is still anticipated through the remainder of 2011.