INTELLIGENCE FROM THE BROADBAND ECONOMY

Opportunities in the next-generation network equipment market lie in all directions. Both China and the U.S. far outnumber other countries in the number of ports shipped for NGN equipment, according to Dittberner Associates. However, their penetration rates — the percentage of NGN ports installed over the number of digital switching ports — suggest that plenty of opportunity remains in those markets. But don't discount Japan, Germany and the U.K. Leading the gold rush so far is Huawei (thanks to the China market) and Nortel Networks (thanks to the U.S. market), but also Ericsson has capitalized on its leadership in the U.K., claiming nearly all of its Class 4 switch replacements so far. Despite the huge opportunity that awaits vendors worldwide, Lilian Tau, CEO and executive vice president of market research and consulting at Dittberner, said it will still take vendors a while to start mining gold. “I don't see this market becoming huge until we reach that point where telcos absolutely must replace existing infrastructure,” he said.