The enterprise networking and communication infrastructure market is a popular one. As many as 100 vendors are vying for a piece of what Infonetics Research says in a new report is a $50 billion market.

While Cisco is significantly ahead of its competitors thanks in part to a broad solution portfolio, Infonetics says three of its smaller rivals are battling it out for second place.

“The battle for second place is raging between Brocade, HP, and Juniper, and each has unique strengths: Brocade has the strongest financials, HP is growing the fastest, and Juniper has experienced the highest improvement in enterprise feedback," said Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise networks and video at Infonetics Research, and lead author of the report.

Cisco nabbed perfect scores in six of seven criteria in Infonetics’ Enterprise Networking Vendor Scorecard, improving on its market-share momentum. NEC’s top position in Japan helped it place fifth in Infonetics’ report.

Follow senior online managing editor @Craig_Galbraith on Twitter.