Switch Market Growth Strong As Technology Transitions

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In-Stat: The Layer 2/3 managed Ethernet switch market grew 23.5% in revenues and 23.8% in port shipments from 2003 to 2004. While Fast Ethernet continued to represent the greatest overall number of ports shipped, the transition to newer generations of switch technology marched on. GigE is now a mainstream switching technology and 10GbE grew exponentially in 2004. 2004 was a standout year for the Ethernet switch market. Strong worldwide economic growth, declining ASPs, and pent-up demand for networking equipment purchases after several years of IT budget cut-backs all contributed to above-average performance by the market.

• Cisco continued to lead the L2/3 managed Ethernet switch market in both port shipments and revenue in 2004, followed by HP, 3Com, and Nortel.

• D-Link led the unmanaged Ethernet switch market, followed by Linksys (Cisco) and Netgear. The unmanaged Ethernet switch market consists of both “pure” unmanaged Ethernet switches as well as Ethernet ports contained in broadband CPE.

• The L2/3 managed Ethernet switch market is expected to grow a more sedate 10% over the course of 2005 and achieve an overall Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of roughly 12% over the next five years.

10GbE Emerges as GigE Dominates Switch Market Publ 20050607