According to a recent report, the Layer 2-3 Ethernet Switch market is projected to approach $25 billon by 2018.
The report by Dell’Oro Group said a 10 Gigabit Ethernet peak is anticipated before 2018 and then 100 Gigabit Ethernet was expected to become mainstream.
“The Ethernet Switch market remains robust, but will become increasingly dependent on the data center for growth. As employees rely on mobile devices and WLAN connectivity more than ever and campus switch revenues continue to decline, the data center will become the main driver over the next several years,” said Alan Weckel, vice president of Ethernet switch market research at Dell’Oro Group. “Two major upgrade cycles in the data center will be happening. The first being the enterprise migration towards 10 Gigabit Ethernet which we anticipate starting in 2015.
“The second, carrying greater implications for future growth in switching, is the cloud upgrade to 25 Gigabit Ethernet which should begin by 2016. Pricing on 25 Gigabit Ethernet and the associated 100 Gigabit Ethernet ports in the data center will be one of the largest growth factors overall as we look towards the second half of the decade.”
The report also said that 25 Gigabit Ethernet would be a major driver for growth in data center switching and will help propel 100 Gigabit Ethernet volumes. Given the move to higher speeds, the report also indicates that 10 Gigabit Ethernet Modular port shipments will be declining as the data center and campus core market moves towards higher speeds.
