South San Francisco, CA, May 19, 2004--The global optical networking market fell 7 percent in the first quarter of 2004, to $2.2 billion, according to market research and advisory services firm RHK. Rolling 4-quarter share positions of the top five vendors were unchanged during the quarter, with Alcatel (Paris, France) remaining in the top spot despite a nearly 50 percent decline in revenues following a particularly strong fourth quarter in 2003. Among the balance of the top ten, Marconi (London, UK), Siemens (Munich, Germany), and Tellabs (Naperville, IL) edged up slightly at the expense of NEC (Tokyo, Japan).

"A slight dip in revenues in the first calendar quarter is part of a normal annual spending cycle and bolsters our claim that the market has stabilized," said Dana Cooperson, RHK group director for optical networking. "Compared to the first quarter of 2003, revenues were up 16 percent, which is again in line with our prediction of market stability and our expectation of full-year growth in this market."

Thu May 20 10:44:00 CDT 2004