Over half of the service providers taking part in an Infonetics survey said they expect to use transparent caching or content delivery networks (CDNs) by 2014 – in their routing strategy.

In addition, Cisco (News - Alert), Alcatel-Lucent and Juniper were ranked as the top service provider edge router and/or CES vendors, the study said. Also, Cisco and Juniper were ranked as top core router makers, the survey adds.

The study, called the “Fixed-Mobile/CDN Routing Strategies and Router Leadership: Global Service Provider Survey” includes responses from carriers with carrier Ethernet switches (CES (News - Alert)) and IP edge routers. It looks at carrier needs and trends in the CES and router markets.

“Our survey shows the top three drivers for deploying CDNs are providing a better quality of experience for customers, network optimization, and reducing the cost and traffic load associated with delivering over-the-top (OTT) video content,” Michael Howard, Infonetics Research’s (News - Alert) co-founder and analyst, said in a press release. “The 3-headed monster of video, mobility, and the cloud is putting enormous pressure on operator networks, and throwing more routers at the problem isn’t the answer because traffic is rising much faster than equipment prices are falling. This is driving a fundamental shift in how IP edge networks are being architected, with carriers combining their fixed and mobile networks for operational efficiencies and using caching and content delivery networks (CDNs) to move frequently used content closer to the consumer, speeding up response times and greatly reducing the amount of traffic crossing the network.”

Also, the survey also showed that four-fifths of operator networks – which chose to respond to questions – carry mobile traffic. Among those interviewed for the survey were incumbent, independent wireless, competitive and cable operators with carrier Ethernet switches and IP edge routers in their networks. They are located across the world.

In other company news, Infonetics Research recently published the “Application Control Drivers, Spending, and Vendor Leadership: North American Enterprise Survey.” It looked at plans and trends in the application control market among medium and large companies.

"The application control market is new to mainstream buyers, and many of them are sorting through deployment models, solution types, and the broad range of vendors coming at them with application control solutions," Jeff Wilson, principal analyst for security at Infonetics Research, said in a statement carried by TMCnet. "Enterprises we interviewed for our application control survey are looking for solutions that support legacy client servers, newer web-based applications, and mobile applications, and they're seeking integrated security platforms that can help them cover all those applications, starting with their existing firewall and intrusion prevention system solutions."

Among the results were the top two drivers for investing in application control solutions: protecting against data theft and financial loss, as well as enforcing application usage policies, the study said. Also, the top application that survey respondents plan to monitor and control is e-mail, then real-time communications applications, such as Skype (News - Alert) and Facetime. In addition, Cisco was ranked top in each leadership criterion (such as technology, product roadmap, and security). McAfee was second.

Among those interviewed for the survey were those who make decisions on IT purchases at 108 enterprises in the United States and Canada. Each has used application control solutions and their company employs 101 or more workers.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2012, taking place Oct. 2-5, in Austin, TX. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. For more information on registering for ITEXPO click here.

Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO. Follow us on Twitter.