New growth in scorched earth might be the best metaphor to describe the state of the high-end router market at present. When the Internet was booming, a bevy of startup suppliers rushed to build the top-of-the-line network devices called core routers. It was thought that products operating at gigabit speeds soon would be needed everywhere. However, that need has proven slow to emerge, and carriers have lost interest in the complex, expensive products. As a result, high-end router sales plummeted by nearly 50 percent in 2002, forcing many hardware startups to reexamine their business plans.
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Challenges Remain for High-End Router Suppliers
Posted by: Paul Korzeniowski October 9, 2003 03:52 AMNew growth in scorched earth might be the best metaphor to describe the state of the high-end router market at present. When the Internet was booming, a bevy of startup suppliers rushed to build the top-of-the-line network devices called core routers. It was thought that products operating at gigabit speeds soon would be needed everywhere. However, that need has proven slow to emerge, and carriers have lost interest in the complex, expensive products. As a result, high-end router sales plummeted by nearly 50 percent in 2002, forcing many hardware startups to reexamine their business plans.