The telecommunications equipment marketplace is abuzz with the recent announcement by Ericsson to buy Redback Networks, a provider of broadband transmission gear for telecom operators. Many are viewing the move by the Swedish telecoms infrastructure provider as a direct challenge to Cisco’s throne and its supremacy in the highly competitive space.

The Redback purchase is expected to add Internet protocol routing expertise to Ericsson’s existing portfolio and allow it to offer products that help operator’s networks to handle the growing demand for advanced services like broadband Internet, VoIP, and data services such as IPTV and video.

Cisco which has been a leader in the space for several years has benefited tremendously from the growth of IP and teleco’s special proclivity towards IP based networks. Barring a few companies like Juniper and Alcatel, there haven’t been too many competitors who have dared to challenge Cisco’s dominance of the market. But Ericsson’s latest move might just make Cisco a little wary.

The reason being, Redback is a company that’s been growing faster than its larger rivals Cisco and Juniper Networks. Its sales grew a full 33 percent for the year 2005 and 87 percent in the first nine months of 2006 with total revenues of an impressive $197 million.

With all this and now the firm backing from Ericsson, Redback is almost certain to sustain this positive momentum in the near future and give Cisco a run for its money.

A confident Carl-Henric Svanberg, president and CEO, Ericsson was recently heard saying, "The combination of Redback's intelligent routing technology and our leading IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), optical transport and broadband access puts Ericsson in a leading position with end-to-end IP solutions for both fixed and mobile operators."

Could this be a sign of things to come? Well, we’ll just have to wait and watch as the scene unfolds in ’07!