A new report from Dell'Oro Group analyzes the extent to which cloud computing is disrupting the market for Ethernet switching, and how switch vendors are currently performing in the data center. The report also projects the data center Ethernet switch market over the next five years. According to the research organization, the impacts are many and significant.
"Enterprises are consolidating data centers and are moving infrastructure towards the hosted environment of the cloud," said Alan Weckel, senior director with Dell'Oro. "These migrations are reducing the numbers of both data centers and IT end users that are making discrete purchasing decisions, as fewer but larger equipment purchases are needed. Over the next five years," Weckel continued, "vendors will expand and consolidate as the battle for supremacy in data center networking intensifies. The result is that there has never been a better time for new entrants or a better opportunity for existing vendors to gain share."
The researcher says two major trends will forever alter the Ethernet switch market: 1) a significant technology change toward 10-GbE and fabrics within the data center, and 2) the emergence of these powerful new customers.
Anyone interested in the study can email Dell'Oro Group here.