Though the average price per unit dropped, the growth in value terms was sustained with the help of high-end gigabit routers that made fresh inroads. As telecommunication companies continue to roll out their networks across the country the market seems poised for impressive growth in the medium-term.

Router Vendors Rank Company FY 06 FY 07 Growth (%) 1 Cisco 893 1,164 30 2 Juniper 80 152 90 3 Dax 43 53 23 4 Huawei 20 38 90 5 D-Link 9 10 11 Others* 14 20 43 Total 1,059 1,437 36
Source: DQ estimate CyberMedia Research
*Others include 3Com, Allied Telesyn, BA Systems, Enterasys, HP Procurve, Matrix, Multitech, and ZyXEL
Though Cisco is still the undisputed #1, Juniper bagging the Himachal SWAN project was an upset

The fact that nationwide networks are moving towards increased interconnectivity, the LAN equipment segment is likely to witness a healthy growth. With investments in telecom infrastructure rising, router deployments by telecom service providers have been on the rise. State Wide Area Networks are major users of low- and mid-range routers to help inter-connecting various government offices.

WLAN Makes Headway
Cisco, with its Linksys Subsidiary, has been a champion of Wireless LAN for several years. The company has been making all efforts for WLAN to gain acceptance as a mainstream connectivity option for the enterprise. FY 07 year saw traction in this segment. SMBs and the governments rural connectivity program proved to be key drivers.

WLAN continued to be governed by the need for round-the-clock connectivity for enterprises, irrespective of location. Cisco once again ruled this segment with a distant challenge from D-Link. Ciscos major wins last year were accounts like Reliance Communications, Idea, and Infosys. D-Link managed to rope in IIT-Kanpur, Roorkee, BHU, and the Department of Post (AP) as major customers during the last fiscal. Netgear retained third position with an impressive growth of 88.9%. Dax played catch-up and introduced outdoor wireless solutions that deliver up to 45 kms at throughput levels of 20 Mbps.

Increased sales of notebooks continued to drive WLANs adoption. Small businesses started looking at this segment seriously in an effort to stay ahead of competition. Explosion in the growth of cellular telephony added to the uptake, as more and more handheld devices that are being sold in the market come with the ability to connect to the internal wireless networks. Growth of broadband connectivity was also instrumental in fueling sales. Penetration of broadband was also visible in the home segment in metros and large cities. BSNL, the largest broadband provider in the country, started offering wireless routers to make homes Wi-Fi enabled thereby bringing some good news for manufacturers of these low-cost devices.

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