Crehan Research is forecasting that revenues for server-class adapter & LAN-on-motherboard solutions hitting $2.5 billion by 2017.
The report forecasts that shipment growth in combination with an easing of average selling price declines will drive the revenue expansion. The report also predicts growth in Ethernet (including Fibre Channel over Ethernet) and Infiniband, offsetting a gradual decline in Fibre Channel.
"The onslaught of traffic demands on data center networking is not only driving a continual increase in server-class adapter and LOM shipments, but it is also driving the need for higher-speed connections across all major protocols, including Ethernet, Fibre Channel and Infiniband," said Seamus Crehan, president of Crehan Research.
"This upgrade to higher-speed connections like 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 16Gbps Fibre Channel and FDR Infiniband – all of which command a price premium while offering a bandwidth discount – helps offset steeper price declines," he added.
The report also forecasts a return to stronger growth in the 10 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter and LOM market segment, after some softness. The recent arrival of many new 40GbE- and 100GbE-capable data center switches for core and aggregation deployments will now give customers more comfort in upgrading the server access layer to 10GbE.
