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Cisco has finished the first quarter of 2019 with a commanding market share in both ethernet switch and router segments, amid increased demand for network solutions.
According to IDC findings, the technology giant ended the six-month period with an 8.3 per cent year-over-year increase in overall ethernet switch revenues, accounting for share of 53.7 per cent.
Meanwhile, leadership was also maintained in the “hotly contested” 25Gb/100Gb segment, through 39.4 per cent of in-market revenue.
Collectively, the tech giant’s service provider and enterprise router revenue rose 15.3 per cent year-over-year, alongside enterprise router revenue increasing 16.1 per cent and service provider revenues growing 14.8 per cent.
As a result, Cisco’s combined service provider and enterprise router market share increased to 42.4 per cent, up from 37.4 per cent in during the fourth quarter of 2018.
“Organisations across the globe are looking to digitally transform themselves in an effort to meet market and competitive needs and improve user experiences,” said Rohit Mehra, vice president of Network Infrastructure at IDC.
“As they do so, enterprises are realising the critical role the network plays in their broader IT transformation initiatives. This has led to continued, and growing, investment in ethernet switching, routing, software-defined networks (SDN), and SD-WAN platforms and architectures that support the increasing demands of an always-connected world.”
From a vendor perspective, Huawei's ethernet switch revenue rose 18.9 per cent on an annualised basis, with the Chinese giant holding 8.9 per cent market share, up from 8.1 per cent a year earlier. Delving deeper, Huawei’s combined service provider and enterprise router revenue rose 5.7 per cent year-over-year with a market share of 24.5 per cent.
Dropping down the list, Arista Networks reported an increase of 24 per cent across ethernet switch revenues during the first half of 2019, providing a market share of 7.5 per cent - up from 6.5 per cent during the same period in 2018.
“The company continues to cater to the higher end of Ethernet switch speeds, with 100Gb revenues accounting for 67.6 per cent of the company's total revenue, indicating the company's focus on hyper-scale and cloud providers,” Mehra added.
Specific to Hewlett Packard Enterprise, ethernet switch revenue declined 5.6 per cent year-over-year, resulting in a market share of 5.3 per cent.
Finally, Juniper Networks’ ethernet switch revenue declined 23.4 per cent during the six-month period, creating a market share of 2.6 per cent.
The vendor also witnessed an 8.2 per cent decline in combined enterprise and service provider router sales, bringing its market share in the router market to 10.4 per cent.
"There continue to be diverging trends across the ethernet switch market," added Petr Jirovsky, research director of Networking Trackers at IDC. “Hyper-scalers and service providers continue to demand the fastest ethernet switching speeds in the market, leading to the highest growth rates in both port shipments and revenues.
“Meanwhile, the more mature enterprise switching platforms continue to make up a larger share of the overall market.”
Credit: IDC Research Market metrics
More broadly speaking, the worldwide ethernet switch market recorded US$6.8 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2019, representing an increase of 7.8 per cent year-over-year.
“100Gb Ethernet switch revenues continue to grow rapidly,” IDC stated. “Port shipments for 100Gb switches rose 85.3 per cent year over year to 3.6 million.
“100Gb revenues grew 59.0 per cent year over year in 1Q19 to US$1.2 billion, making up 17.3 per cent of the market's revenue.”
According to IDC, 25Gb ports also saw “impressive growth”, increasing 133.3 per cent to US$304.0 million, with port shipments growing 104.8 per cent year over year.
“40Gb switches continue to be falling out of favour with revenues declining 21.3 per cent year-over-year,” IDC reported. “Lower-speed campus switches, a more mature part of the market, showed moderate growth.
“10Gb port shipments rose 8.6 per cent year over year to make up 28.7 per cent of the market's revenue. 1Gb switches grew 2.9 per cent year over year in port shipments, making up 40.3 per cent of the market's total revenues.”
On the flip side, the worldwide total enterprise and service provider router market revenues grew 8.2 per cent year-over-year during the period, amounting to US$3.6 billion.
Within this, the major service provider segment, which accounts for 75.3 per cent of revenues, increased 7.1 per cent, while the enterprise segment of the market increased 11.9 per cent.
