The data center Ethernet switch market posted record revenue and shipment results in 2Q13, according to the most recent Data Center Switch Report from Crehan Research. The data center market's overall growth was propelled by 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) price declines.
As shown in the accompanying figure, 10GbE pricing within the fixed/top-of-rack switch segment – which accounts for a majority of overall data center switch shipments – is now almost at three times that of 1GbE.
"Offering ten times the bandwidth for only three times the price of 1GbE is a key threshold for 10GbE data center Ethernet switch adoption,” said Seamus Crehan, president of Crehan Research. "This type of pricing should finally drive mainstream 10GbE data center switch adoption."
Last month, Crehan reported that 10GbE adoption within servers also returned to strong growth in the second quarter of 2013, with shipments and revenues posting double-digit increases.
In line with a strong quarter for data center networking investment, Fibre Channel Switching also enjoyed a sequential increase, albeit much more modest than that of the data center Ethernet switch market. Cisco had a particularly strong quarter, with its recently introduced flagship MDS 9700 Director switch driving close to a 40% increase in its overall Fibre Channel switch revenues.
