Juniper stood out among the top tier of router and carrier Ethernet switch (CES) manufacturers, in the latest service provider survey from IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO), a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions. Cisco, Huawei and Nokia also scored well, across the board.

In the carriers’ leading vendor selection criterion, product reliability, Juniper ranked highest, followed by Cisco. In fact, Juniper was rated highest in four out of five of the carriers’ top manufacturer selection criteria. For price-to-performance ratio, Huawei took first position and Juniper came in second.

Carriers also named leaders in next-generation routing technologies. Cisco ranked first in 100GE, followed by Juniper and Nokia.

“Juniper, Cisco, Huawei and Nokia excel at delivering on all the criteria operators consider to be most important,” said Michael Howard, executive director, research and analysis, carrier networks, IHS Markit. “All four companies met operators' expectations in the carriers’ top vendor selection criteria, which are product reliability, price-to-performance ratio, service and support, technology innovation, and security.”

The four companies also led in other measures, including unaided awareness, aided awareness, and equipment installed and under evaluation. The vendors likewise ranked at the top when survey respondents named leaders in next-generation routing technologies, including 100GE, vRouter and IP data center interconnect (DCI).

“Juniper, Cisco, Huawei and Nokia form the top tier of service provider router and CES manufacturers,” said Heidi Adams, senior research director, IHS Markit. “All four companies are clearly separated from smaller industry players, mirroring the top four in terms of worldwide market share.”

The 2017 IHS Markit router and switch vendor leadership service provider survey sheds light on how global service providers select router and CES manufacturers, whose equipment they have installed and will evaluate for future purchases, and which manufacturers they consider to be leaders in key manufacturer selection criteria. The study features operator ratings of 10 vendors (Brocade, Cisco, Coriant, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Huawei, Juniper, NEC, Nokia and ZTE) on nine criteria. The 20 operators responding to the survey control one-third (33 percent) of worldwide telecom capital expenditures and 27 percent of revenue.