Ethernet switch sales enjoy rare growth

Happy days are here again, according to recent figures from Dell’Oro Group. The research firm last week said the Ethernet switch market actually grew in the second quarter of this year – the first growth in a year.

Revenue from Ethernet switches increased a modest 2% from the previous quarter, to $2.6 billion. For the three previous quarters, revenue either dropped or was flat from quarter to quarter.

One driver for the growth, Dell’Oro says, was Gigabit Ethernet’s growing popularity as Gigabit over copper wiring becomes more common. Dell’Oro highlighted that trend a couple of weeks ago:

https://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/lans/2003/0804lan1.html

Gigabit Ethernet alone accounted for nearly $1 billion of that $2.6 billion in revenue.

Interestingly, Dell’Oro also noted that 10 Gigabit Ethernet prices fell almost 30% from quarter to quarter, which helped to boost its uptake.

Similarly, Dell’Oro released a report showing that the 10G bit/sec worldwide router market grew healthily, at 10% from quarter to quarter, to $170 million. Other routers had flat sales from the first quarter to the second.

Total router sales were flat, at $1.5 billion. Dell’Oro says sales have been at that level for five consecutive quarters now.