US$1 trillion to be spent on telecom and datacom over next five years

"Despite the fact that enterprises and service providers are in the middle of massive network upheavals due to the evolution of software-defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV) technology, the telecom and datacom networking equipment and software market is on track to grow annually through 2018 with the fastest growth coming in 2015," notes Jeff Wilson, principal analyst at Infonetics Research.

Michael Howard, co-founder of Infonetics and co-author of the report, adds, "Looking at just the service provider equipment space (excluding services and consumer electronics like handsets), we're seeing a shakeup in vendor market share, with Huawei leapfrogging longtime number-one Ericsson to take the top spot in 2013. While Huawei's been doing well in a number of regions, China's economy is a key factor keeping Huawei's growth so strong."

TOTAL TELECOM AND DATACOM MARKET HIGHLIGHTS
· Based on global revenue, the overall telecom and datacom network equipment and software market share leaders are, in rank order: Cisco, Huawei, Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, and ZTE -- the same top 5 vendors with virtually the same shares as the year prior
· Vendor share positions held steady in the enterprise segment, with Cisco in the driver's seat and followed distantly by tightly bunched Avaya, Brocade, HP, and Juniper (listed in alphabetical order)
· Worldwide, sales of telecom and datacom equipment and software came to $183 billion in 2013, an uptick of 3% versus the previous year
· Asia Pacific put some breathing room between itself and North America in the regional race for telecom/datacom equipment and software revenue, growing 6% year-over-year as compared to North America's 4.5%; this trend is expected to continue through at least 2018
· Infonetics is projecting a cumulative $1.01 trillion will be spent by service providers and enterprises on telecom/datacom gear and software over the 5 years from 2014 to 2018