Year 2007 proves to be a booming year for the switch and router market in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan), with total market size showing 21% increase to US$6.5 billion. Along with mega trends such as datacenter consolidation, branch office network upgrade, unified communications/IP telephony and next-generation network (NGN) upgrade, SMBs has also shown growth that attracts attention from vendors across the board. With soaring oil prices and the possibility of an economic slowdown, IT organizations are expected to have more stringent requirements for network investment to justify return on investment. IDC's Asia/Pacific Quarterly Switch and Router Tracker aims to provide detailed analysis and insight of the network market for both enterprise and service provider segments. Pertinent information such as market size, vendor share, and forecast will be included. This product also provides detailed breakdown for service providers investment into the network core and edge categories.

This product covers the following equipment:

• LAN Switch
• Router

Throughout the year, this product will address the following topics:

• Dynamics for the switch and router market in terms of vendors' activities and key projects highlight
• Quarterly market size and vendor share of the switch market by layer, form factor and transmission technology
• Quarterly market size and vendor share of the router market by price band
• Quarterly vertical segmentation for the switch and router market by vendor
• Quarterly company size segmentation for the switch and router market by vendor
• Quarterly update of a 5-year market forecast by product, form factor and transmission technology

Our research addresses the following issues that are critical to your success:

1. What is the current uptake for Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet technology? What are the drivers and how would this evolve in the next 5 years?
2. What is the market size for the key verticals? How are key vendors taking the opportunities present in this space?
3. Who are the new and emerging players in Asia/Pacific? Are they successful in penetrating overseas markets?
4. How big is the SMB market in Asia/Pacific? Which vendors are more successful in tapping the SMB segment and why?
5. What is the forecast for service provider spending? Would they spend more on the network edge comparing to the network core? What are the drivers behind their spending?
6. How does managed services change the competitive landscape in the enterprise space?

IDC's Asia/Pacific Quarterly Switch and Router Tracker examines how networking vendors are positioning themselves to compete in the telecom and enterprise market. This product reviews strategies, market positioning and future direction of providers in the switching and routing space. Key providers include:

Accton/SMC, Alcatel-Lucent, Allied Telesis, Cisco, Dasan, Dax, Dell, DigitalChina, D-Link, Enterasys, Extreme, F5, Foundry, Force10, H3C/3Com, Huawei, Juniper, Linksys, Netgear, Nortel, ProCurve, Radware, Redback, Riverstone, Ruijie, Tellabs, ZTE, etc.

Throughout the year, this product will offer insight into the latest trends impacting the market.

1. Switch

• Layer 2, layer 3 and layer 4-7
• Fixed port and modular; managed and unmanaged
• Ethernet, fast ethernet, gigabit ethernet, 10 gigabit ethernet and ATM
• Breakdown by vertical and company size

2. Router

• Small SOHO, SOHO, low-end, mid-range, high-end and gigabit/terabit
• Breakdown by vertical and company size

As a privately held company, IDC believes that our customers are our primary constituency. A large percentage of every revenue dollar is reinvested back into our products, including more analysts, more geographic coverage, and extensive primary research.

Our steady growth over the past 10-plus years reflects our commitment to investing in our customers.