IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Ethernet Switch and Router Tracker Shows Encouraging Results in Fourth Quarter
Source: idc.com View: 281 Date: 2014-02-28

 The worldwide Ethernet switch market (Layer 2/3) reached a record $5.96 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013 (4Q13), representing a year-over-year increase of 4.8%. On a sequential basis, the market increased 5.3% over 3Q13. Meanwhile, the worldwide router market jumped 2.2% year over year. Sequentially, the router market increased 0.4% after the particularly strong 3Q13, according to the preliminary results published in the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Ethernet Switch and Router Tracker. For the full year 2013, the Ethernet switch market increased 3.0% year over year while the total router market grew 1.5% year over year.

From a geographic perspective, the 4Q13 results found the Ethernet switch market saw its highest growth in North America (up 9.3% year over year), relatively good growth in Asia/Pacific (up 5.1% year over year), and Latin America (increased 3.9% year over year). Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region remains relatively weak despite signs of macroeconomic improvements and declined -1.3% year over year in 4Q13.

"The worldwide Ethernet switch market is increasingly diverging into two market segments with different market dynamics – the enterprise campus segment, which includes the network edge that integrates mobility, and the higher growth datacenter segment," said Rohit Mehra, Vice President,Network Infrastructure at IDC. "Taking into account fairly significant regional variations, the campus segment is relatively stable while the datacenter continues to reflect the rapid explosion of 10GbE and 40GbE switch ports shipments."

10Gb Ethernet switch (Layer 2/3) revenue increased 9.3% year over year while 10Gb Ethernet switch port shipments grew a strong 35.5% year over year to 5.4 million ports in 4Q13. 10GbE continues to be the primary driver of the overall Ethernet switch market, with the early stage 40GbE just starting to reach critical mass as a stand-alone segment.

The worldwide enterprise and service provider Router market lost some of its momentum after growing 7.8% year over year in 3Q13 and grew a more modest but still solid 2.2% year over year in 4Q13. Regionally, the growth was quite uneven and ranged from 7.9% increase in Asia/Pacific to a decline of -17.6% year over year in Latin America (due to a tough comparison against a very strong 4Q12). North America increased 3.8% year over year and EMEA also recorded a minor positive growth of 0.3% year over year in 4Q13.

From a vendor perspective, Cisco’s Ethernet switch (Layer 2/3) market share in 4Q13 held steady from last year at 61.3%. Cisco’s market share in the fast-growing 10GbE market segment was 64.0% in 4Q13. For the full year 2013, Cisco’s Ethernet switch revenue increased 2.1% year over year.

HP’s Ethernet Switch revenue increased 3.8% quarter over quarter and 3.6% year over year in 4Q13, just slightly below the overall market levels. HP’s market share now stands at 9.3% in 4Q13. HP’s full year 2013 growth reached 4.4% year over year.

Juniper had an impressive quarter having outperformed in both Ethernet switching and routing in 4Q13. Its router revenue was up 15.1% year over year and 3.7% quarter over quarter in 4Q13. Juniper’s Ethernet switch revenues increased by 39.7% year over year and 33.7% sequentially this quarter.

"With the unified enterprise network edge continuing to gain market traction and new enterprise networking applications continuing to proliferate, Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) is expected to hold its own for the foreseeable future," said Petr Jirovský, Research Manager in IDC’s Networking Trackers Group. "However, with IDC continuing to see stark contrasts between regions and countries; vendors are cautioned to take those into account while working on their near to mid-term go-to-market strategies."

 

The IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Ethernet Switch and Router Tracker provides total market size and vendor shares for the Ethernet switch and router technologies in an easy-to-use Excel pivot table format. The geographic coverage for both the Ethernet switch market and the router market includes eight major regions (USA, Canada, Latin America, Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan), Japan, Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and Middle East and Africa) and 58 countries. The Ethernet switch market is further segmented by speed (100Mb, 1000Mb, 10Gb, 40Gb), product (fixed managed, fixed unmanaged, modular), and layer (L2, L3, L4-7). Measurement for the Ethernet switch market is provided in vendor revenue, customer value, and port shipments. The router market is further split by product (high-end, mid-range, low-end, SOHO), deployment (service provider, enterprise), connectivity (core, edge), and the measurements are in vendor revenue, customer value, and unit shipments.

For more information about IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Ethernet Switch and Router Tracker, please contact Kathy Nagamine (knagamine@idc.com).

About IDC Trackers

IDC Tracker products provide accurate and timely market size, vendor share, and forecasts for hundreds of technology markets from more than 100 countries around the globe. Using proprietary tools and research processes, IDC’s Trackers are updated on a semiannual, quarterly, and monthly basis. Tracker results are delivered to clients in user-friendly excel deliverables and on-line query tools. The IDC Tracker Charts app allows users to view data charts from the most recent IDC Tracker products on their iPhone and iPad.

About IDC

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1,000 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. In 2014, IDC celebrates its 50th anniversary of providing strategic insights to help clients achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world’s leading technology media, research, and events company. You can learn more about IDC by visiting www.idc.com.

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