Alcatel and Redback Networks made significant gains in the multiservice edge router market in the first quarter, threatening the long-held leadership of Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks, according to Dittberner Associates.

Alcatel nearly matched the $80 million in first-quarter revenue brought in by market leader Cisco, Dittberner said. Both vendors took about 29% of the market in the first quarter. Cisco, which owned almost half the market a year ago, held its leadership position by less than half a percent.

Redback bumped Juniper from third place in the market during the first quarter--but just barely, Dittberner said. Redback’s multiservice edge router revenue jumped 27% sequentially in the quarter, giving it $41.3 million in revenue and slightly more than 15% of the market. Juniper, meanwhile, rode a small sequential revenue decline to $40.8 million and slightly less than 15% of the market.

Trailing that pack was Tellabs, with 8% of the market, and Lucent Technologies (with the products it inherited through its acquisition of Riverstone Networks), with less than 1%.

Alcatel resells Redback’s edge gear with its own, making use of its subscriber management capabilities. Alcatel contributed about 12% of Redback’s overall revenue last year but only 5% in the first quarter.