The market for Ethernet switches is hurting, but there are some companies that are bucking the trend, according to the latest numbers from In-Stat.
The research firm looked at unmanaged, “smart,” and managed switches, and all three categories saw port shipments down in the second quarter of this year, compared to the same period last year. Unmanaged switch port shipments dropped 14%, while port shipments for managed switches were down 21%.
The interesting thing is, in the midst of that nastiness, several companies actually managed to grow their shipments or their market share.
In unmanaged switches, Linksys saw port shipments up by 50% from the same period last year. H3C, which sells 3Com equipment in China, saw port shipments grow 35%. By contrast, D-Link – the leader in terms of shipments – saw those shipments fall 31%. And 3Com itself saw a drop of 39%.
While Linksys saw a huge increase in unmanaged switches, its owner, Cisco, saw a 24% dip in port shipments of managed switches. This may reflect a shift toward lower-end gear during the recession.
Other companies shared Cisco’s fate in managed switches – HP ProCurve, H3C, 3Com and others saw decreases.
Bucking the trend, D-Link, which didn’t do so well in unmanaged switches, fared better among managed, with an 8% increase in shipments, according to In-Stat.
D-Link also soared to the top of the smart switch market, with shipments doubling, year over year. Linksys also increased its shipments somewhat, but 3Com, Netgear and HP ProCurve were all off.
