Data Center

Report: Data center, enterprise switch market hinges on specialized products, partnerships

April 2, 2014

New research from Dell'Oro Group centers on the trend towards vendor product specialization and partnerships to deliver tailored Ethernet Switch platforms.

Matt Vincent

A new report from Dell’Oro Group reveals what the firm sees as gathering momentum in the trend towards vendor product specialization and partnerships to deliver tailored Ethernet Switch platforms.

According to the firm's latest research, while customer requirements have always influenced the features that vendors incorporate into their Ethernet Switch products, the migration in the data center towards 10 Gigabit Ethernet for server access has underlined the reality that vendors are introducing unique products optimized for specific network deployments.

“The market is shifting from even growth across all deployment location segments in the Ethernet Switch market, to the data center being the key market driver," explains Alan Weckel, vice president at Dell’Oro Group. "Vendors that currently have more exposure in the data center will likely increase their share as the overall market becomes more data-center focused. In addition, vendor market share is also being impacted by a shift in vendor product focus, as well as activity in China."

See also: Analyst says Ethernet switch market undergoing dramatic changes

Dell’Oro Group’s Advanced Research Report: Ethernet Switch Deployment Locations provides an assessment of the magnitude of the Ethernet Switch market by the four major locations of deployment: the data center; the enterprise (e.g., campus and branch office locations); small and medium businesses (SMBs); and Carrier Ethernet services.

The study also investigates vendor strengths and weaknesses and the drivers behind this $20 billion-plus market. In addition, the report reveals how Cisco Systems, Dell, D-Link, Hewlett-Packard, Huawei, IBM, Juniper Networks and Netgear place respectively in the top four revenue-shares in at least one segment.

“Distinct requirements will force many vendors to specialize in certain segments or to partner with other vendors to offer customers a complete solution portfolio," warns Dell'Oro's Weckel. "Despite projected market growth, we believe these factors will adversely affect the addressable market for many vendors."

Learn more about the report.

About the Author

Matt Vincent | Senior Editor

Matt Vincent is a B2B technology journalist, editor and content producer with over 15 years of experience, specializing in the full range of media content production and management, as well as SEO and social media engagement best practices, for both Cabling Installation & Maintenance magazine and its website CablingInstall.com. He currently provides trade show, company, executive and field technology trend coverage for the ICT structured cabling, telecommunications networking, data center, IP physical security, and professional AV vertical market segments. Email: [email protected]