The 10 most power-hungry companies in networking

From application infrastructure to VoIP, these 10 companies do business in red-hot markets. While they might not all be the most powerful companies in their sectors, they are making aggressive product and financial moves that could get them there.

To continue reading, register here and become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

Advanced Micro Devices: Chipping away at Intel

Headquarters: Sunnyvale, Calif.
Company focus: Microprocessors and memory devices.

Biggest news in '04: Introduced 64-bit Athlon processors for mobile devices and faster and lower-power Opteron processors; saw its Opteron processors ship in servers from HP, IBM and Sun; announced plans for dual-core 64-bit microprocessors.

Key strategies and challenges in '05: Deliver on promised dual-core processors and new power management technologies; convince big Intel-based server makers, such as Dell, to switch over, while broadening its offerings for current OEM partners; stave off challenges from Intel and its Opteron rival, a 32-/64-bit version of Xeon.

Financial track record:
Last four quarters' revenue: $4.94 billion
Previous four quarters' revenue: $3 billion
Last four quarters' earnings: $164 million
Previous four quarters' loss: $1.17 billion

"We are the x86 company. No other company has the resources that we have on x86. We don't have three other architectures to worry about."
- Hector Ruiz, chairman, CEO and president

Avaya: Riding the IP telephony wave

Headquarters: Basking Ridge, N.J.
Company focus: IP phone systems and services for corporations including call centers.

Biggest news in '04: Expanded business in Europe with purchase of call center vendor Tenovis following expansion in Asia with the purchase of Tata Telecom; bought audio- and Web conferencing vendor Spectel; partnered with IBM to integrate voice with business applications and demonstrated interoperability with gear made by Extreme Networks.

Key strategies and challenges in '05: Make more inroads against Cisco's IP telephony products; push its gear into carrier networks as a way to offer managed IP voice services; meet goal of boosting revenue 25% to 27%.

Financial track record:
Last four quarters' revenue: $4.1 billion
Previous four quarters' revenue: $4.3 billion
Last four quarters' earnings: $291 million
Previous four quarters' loss: $400,000

"There is a commitment to ip telephony . . . but we're seeing a variety of implementation strategies suited to the actual customers. i think that plays exactly to our strength."
- Don Peterson, chairman and CEO

BEA Systems: Advancing on SOAs

Headquarters: San Jose
Company focus: Infrastructure software, including application server, portal, security, integration and application development tools.

Biggest news in '04: Detailed Liquid Computing vision for building service-oriented architectures; unveiled Apache Beehive, an open source version of its WebLogic Workshop application framework for building SOAs; launched product and services bundles for key vertical industries.

Key challenges and strategies for '05: Turn sagging license revenue around; continue to diversify product portfolio.

Financial track record:
Last four quarters' revenue: $1.1 billion
Previous four quarters' revenue: $983.7 million
Last four quarters' earnings: $128.7 million
Previous four quarters' earnings: $114.4 million

"The delivery of the ideal SOA platform is the cornerstone of our vision for increasing business responsiveness."
- Alfred Chuang, co-founder, chairman and CEO