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The problem for Avici Systems, a North Billerica-based router manufacturer, is that it has been a bit late getting to the gate in what is essentially a two-horse race.
Cisco Systems dominates the telecommunications router market with 75 percent market share, and Juniper Systems owns most of what is left.
Still, Avici has raised more than $325 million through venture funding and a high-profile initial public offering this summer, and is beginning to gear up its sales and marketing organization to give serious chase to the other two companies.
Avici is not alone at the back of the pack. Lucent Technologies and Nortel Networks are also experimenting with "terabit switch routers" which would be used in new networks when carriers get around to replacing the current generation of data switching equipment. Other startups working on the technology include Calient, Brightlinks Networks, and Pluris.
"Avici is the strongest of the independent terabit router vendors, and from a product perspective, the company is able to give any of the other terabit solutions strong competition," said Chris Nicoll, a telecommunications analyst with Current Analysis, a research firm based in northern Virginia.