Ethernet switch revenues grew by 35.3% and ethernet router revenues increased by 15.1% in the first quarter of 2010, compared to same period last year, due to the strong market demand across all regions and key product segments, according to a new report from market research firm IDC.
Rohit Mehra, director of enterprise communications infrastructure at IDC, said: We are once again seeing growth in the ethernet switch market being driven by healthy underlying networking drivers – the growth of voice and video over IP, network-based businesses and applications, network-attached devices, virtualisation, and cloud computing – and that the negative impact of the macroeconomic conditions of 2009 is subsiding.
According to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Networks Tracker, the 10GbE switch revenue rose by 111.2% to $1.15bn in the first quarter of 2010, as the adoption was driven by datacentre, cloud, and campus buildouts.
After four consecutive quarters of year-over-year declines, total router market revenue rose by 15.1% in 1Q10, compared to same period a year ago. The enterprise router market continued to be soft and off by around 25% from the record levels seen in 2007 and 2008. Service provider router revenue, which now accounts for 72.7% of the router market, grew 21.9% year over year with multi-service edge routers growing the most at 38.6%, according to the report.
From a vendor perspective, Cisco accounted for the biggest gain in ethernet switch revenue with its market share increasing to 68.5%, up from 64.5% in 1Q09. It also outperformed the market in the service provider router market, growing 41.3% year over year. The company now accounts for 52.9% of this market, up from 45.6% in 1Q09.
Cindy Borovick, vice president of enterprise communications infrastructure and datacentre networks at IDC, said: The breadth of the network market recovery is very encouraging with all regions and market segments making a contribution. Of all enterprise IT priorities, networking clearly remains a key building block, playing an important role in next-generation IT infrastructures.
