Enterprise Switch Market Continues to Grow

According to IDC’s latest statistics, the global Ethernet switch market grew by 8.5 percent year-over-year to $5.5 billion in the second quarter of 2012.

The big driver of growth on the enterprise switch side is 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GbE). IDC reported that 3 million 10 GbE ports shipped during the quarter, delivering 22.9 percent revenue growth over 2011.

Cisco continues to dominate the enterprise switch market with a 62.1 percent share. When it comes to 10 GbE, Cisco’s share is even higher, coming in at 66.8 percent.

From a vendor perspective, Cisco’s Ethernet switch (Layer 2/3) market share in 2Q12 came in at 62.1 percent, reflecting a small year-over-year decrease from 62.6 percent in 2Q11. Cisco’s market share in the fast-growing 10GbE market segment stands at 66.8 percent in 2Q12.

“Building on the momentum from the previous quarter, the positive 2Q12 performance in the Ethernet switch market shows that the network continues to play a pivotal role in IT infrastructure rollouts,” said Rohit Mehra, director, Enterprise Communications Infrastructure at IDC in a statement.

Read the full story at EnterpriseNetworkingPlanet:
Enterprise and Service Provider Router and Switch Markets Post Gains

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.