Network equipment maker Juniper filed financials which have provided hope for investors that the worst of the sector's troubles may be over.

Juniper, which is seen as Cisco's chief rival, saw its shares crash by 77 per cent this year.

But they rose by five per cent on today [Friday], after the company said its revenues would not continue to decline for the rest of the year.

Investors had thought the situation would worsen further.

Juniper posted a loss of $37.1m on revenues of $202.5m for the three months to the end of June, the first time sales fell sequentially in the firm's five-year history.

The company earned revenues of $332.1m in the three months to the end of March.

Analysts were stunned by the firm's March figures, which were twice as good as their expectations.

Market watchers have attributed some of Juniper's success to an alleged "brain drain" from Cisco's pool of engineers, though Juniper chief executive Scott Kriens preferred to attribute the revival to a drive by ISPs to expand their networks to handle internet demand.

Juniper's position is in sharp contrast to other carrier suppliers, which have announced either huge losses, massive jobs cuts or both.

However, Juniper has made some jobs cuts itself.