Sellers in the Router Markets Must Offer Quality Solutions While Keeping Tab on Expenditure

End users in the mature router markets in the Asia Pacific region demand equipment that ensures high throughput and offers various add-on functions such as multicasting, multi protocol label switching (MPLS), Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) compatibility, and embedded security. Thus, participants in these markets are forced to simplify their operations to sustain and grow while dealing with escalating real estate and labor costs as well as the need to achieve operational ease. Companies also need to improve equipment intelligence that is likely to reduce the necessity for manual intervention and meet the increasing requirement for superior quality of services (QoS).

This Frost & Sullivan research service provides an overview of and an outlook for the routers markets in the Asia Pacific region, detailing unit shipment forecasts by region and segments as well as providing market share analyses. It broadly segments the markets based on carriers (core, edge, and broadband remote access server (BRAS)) and the enterprises (government, enterprise, as well as education and research) involved in them. This information is valuable for both large and small market participants seeking to position themselves for maximum return on investment.

Flourishing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Sectors to Drive the Markets

"The governments’ emphasis on building their competence in ICT is likely to drive the demand for routers, especially the IPv6 and IPv4 ones," highlights the analyst of this research service. "To benefit from this development, companies must device strategies to withstand the rising competition from old and used equipment sellers catering to the price-sensitive customers."

Further, increasing competition is forcing key market participants to decrease their capital expansion (CAPEX) initiatives and consequently their prices - a move that adversely affects their revenues. This is proving to be a challenge due to the mounting operational costs in the form of expenditure incurred in hiring numerous professional network administrators and frequent repairs. Manufacturers need to strive toward bringing down the customers’ total cost of ownership (TCO), and emphasize on providing enhanced product reliability and better their service strategies.

Network Upgrades and Triple Play Applications Offer Immense Scope for Routers

Router companies are focusing on overcoming the lack of awareness concerning product features and functionalities. Increasing residential digital subscription line (DSL) connections and network upgrades or extensions by fixed data and mobile service providers and larger organizations are stimulating market growth in the Asia Pacific region. "The increasing data usage in mobile networks - particularly the third-generation ones - as well as the growing acceptance of fiber to the home (FTTH) and fiber to the curb (FTTC) and other options of optical connectivity has opened new vistas for the router manufacturers to pursue," notes the analyst.

Overall, with a complete broadband access solution becoming a necessity, router enterprises are focusing on providing triple play (combining voice, video, and data) services in a single platform. Triple play applications are likely to necessitate the development of real-time communication provisioning, specifically in the voice and video applications, a factor set to drive the markets in the long run.