Weary of playing second fiddle, L.M. Ericsson trumped all the competition by soaring to the top of equipment makers, dislodging premier Lucent Technologies Inc., which dropped to the No. 4 spot for 2000, according to a survey by Gartner Inc.’s Dataquest.
The survey is a touchstone of the effect the slowing economy, dotcom free falls and frenetic jockeying for new positions are having on the vendor space. But Lucent’s drop was due to its spinning off a company division.
“Whether there is an actual recession or not, there will be a paring back in 2001,” said Dean Eyers, group vice president for Gartner Dataquest’s worldwide telecommunications and networking group.
Ericsson shot ahead with revenue of $31.3 billion, representing 21.5 percent of the total market. Ericsson’s point of advantage, according to Dataquest, was its significant investment in third-generation wireless systems.
Nortel Networks, with its strides in leading-edge technology skills and optical equipment, came a close second, with $30.3 billion in revenue. But Nortel surpassed Ericsson on growth percentage-up 42.2 percent from the past year. Its 1999 revenue was 21.3 percent of the market, while Ericsson’s was 25.7 percent.
Nokia came in third, but Dataquest noted that while the company recorded strong growth in its mobile terminal business in 2000, a slow economy is already softening its growth.
Lucent’s drop, according to Dataquest, was partly due to the exclusion of Avaya, whose combination with Lucent would have amounted to $33.2 billion, giving Lucent the No. 1 slot. Lucent still had a difficult year, Dataquest noted.
Cisco, while ranking fifth, put the strongest growth among the top eight vendors, but the report warned that the company may not show that much energy in the coming year in its core businesses and will need to modify its strategy to continue strong growth rates.
Meanwhile, No. 7 Motorola Inc. “benefited from its mobile legacy in 2000, but it is losing share in key competitive markets. It has positions in cable infrastructure and low-end data products, but it will be difficult to see its breakout strategy as the mobile segment softens,” Dataquest said. Siemens slipped from the No. 5 spot in 1999 to the No. 6 position in 2000, as the company restructured to concentrate on its operator and wireless businesses.
