The Ethernet switch market continues to expand, driven by the growth of 10 Gigabit Ethernet in the data center and revenues generated by the likes of Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard and Juniper Networks, according to research firm Dell’Oro Group.
In a report issued Feb. 22, Dell’Oro analysts said that Cisco, HP and Juniper combined to add almost $600 million in incremental revenues, fueling 20 percent sequential growth in the Ethernet switch market in the fourth quarter 2009.
Year-end budget spending and supply constraint issues in the third quarter also helped drive up demand, according to Dell’Oro analyst Alan Weckel.
And that growth will only continue, he said.
“We expect the market to continue to expand in 2010, especially as 10 Gigabit Ethernet continues to grow not only as a server connectivity technology, but also as an aggregation technology within the data center,” Weckel said in a statement.
The 10GbE space was the only part of the market to show sequential port and revenue growth in 2009, thanks to shipments of fixed 10GbE devices for the data center, according to Dell’Oro. In addition, the bulk of revenue growth in the Ethernet switch market for 2010 will come from 10GbE, the firm said.
The data center networking space promises to be a tightly contested one in 2010. Cisco continues to lead the space, but HP-on the strength of its proposed $2.7 billion acquisition of 3Com-is looking to gain more market share through its ProCurve networking business.
In addition, a host of other vendors, from Juniper and Extreme Networks to Brocade Communications Systems and QLogic, also are looking to cut into Cisco’s lead.