The declines are likely not driven by the generally weak economy, Machowinski says, because during the recession that started in 2009 there was no such falloff in prices. Overall revenues for Ethernet switch sales dropped, but that was because customers were buying switches with lower speeds and fewer features - the lower end gear.

The heaviest competition is between , with HP apparently making some headway against Cisco, picking up more than 2% and Cisco losing 3% of the market share.

Lesser players are doing better with Extreme, Juniper and Enterasys all showing 10% or more growth, he says.

In the market businesses seem to be investing in routers for the core of their networks but not for their branch offices, Machowinski says. Businesses seem to be slowing expansion, meaning fewer new branch offices to equip. "There's a selective investment being made in routers," he says.

Unlike in the switch market, revenues from routers are not expected to decline.