This IDC study examines the Western European router market in 1H08 compared to 2H07 and 1H07, and analyzes the major segments and broad trends in that marketplace. Included in the review are figures for the Western European market size and the market share of the router vendors that are active in the market.

High-end, midrange, low-end, SOHO, and residential router unit shipments and revenue are broken out by vendor for 1H08. In addition to the Western European revenue and shipment figures, this study breaks out market share by country. Countries included are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

"The Western European enterprise router market is becoming increasingly mature. In that respect, vendors must focus more on profitability and revenue than on shipment growth. Vendors addressing smaller enterprises in Western Europe need to develop more cost-effective channel strategies because margins are likely to be constrained. Moreover, vendors need to focus on enhancing their product features, such as aspects of security, QoS, VoIP, and reliability, to gain competitive advantage," said Sylvia Wünsche, research analyst, European Enterprise Communications Infrastructure, at IDC.