The worldwide Ethernet switch market (Layer 2/3) reached $5,28-billion in the first quarter of 2013 (1Q13), representing year-over-year growth of 2,1%.
On a sequential basis the seasonally weaker 1Q13 declined 7,6% over 4Q12. Meanwhile, the worldwide router market was relatively weak in 1Q13 and decreased 7,9% year-over-year and 13% quarter-over-quarter, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Ethernet Switch and Router Tracker.
From a geographic perspective, the first quarter results found the Ethernet switch market was particularly strong in China where it increased 10,6% year-over-year, followed by Central and Eastern Europe, which was up 10,3% year-over-year.
As a region, Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) came in with a 6,6% increase, while the United States also performed relatively well in 1Q13 with an increase of 3,5% year-over-year. Western Europe remained an area of weakness, declining 6,2% year-over-year. On a positive note for Western Europe, this was an improvement over the double-digit year-over-year declines experienced in 3Q12 and 4Q12.
“While 10GbE continues to drive the worldwide Ethernet switch market, it is interesting to note the increasing divergence in the performance of the overall market across the various regions, and in some cases, specific countries,” says Rohit Mehra, VP: network infrastructure at IDC.
“While GbE is still expected to hold its own for the foreseeable future, we expect 10GbE and 40GbE to drive the wired infrastructure market forward in the coming years, both in the data centre as well as campus core deployments. But as the market evolves, we should expect there will be pronounced market differences across the various theatres.”
10Gb Ethernet switch (Layer 2/3) revenue increased 12,9% year-over-year to $1,87-billion while 10Gb Ethernet switch port shipments grew 37,6% year-over-year to 3,9-million ports in 1Q13. 10GbE continues to be the primary driver of the overall Ethernet switch market.
The worldwide Layer 4-7 switching market lost some momentum in 1Q13 and decreased 4,3% year-over-year. This was the first annual decline in more than three years.
The worldwide enterprise and service provider Router market declined 7,9% year-over-year and 13% sequentially in 1Q13. As with the Ethernet switch market, IDC saw very uneven performance across major geographies and countries this quarter.
Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) actually grew 4,2% year-over-year in 1Q13 while North America and the Middle East and Africa (MEA) regions were down only low single digits on an annual basis.
Elsewhere, Japan, Latin America, and Western Europe all declined by more than 20% year-over-year. Specifically, Japan fell by 24,8%, Latin America by 22,5%, and Western Europe by 20,5% year-over-year, each a significant market move by any standard.
From a vendor perspective, Cisco’s Ethernet switch (Layer 2/3) market share in 1Q13 came in at 62,7% reflecting a year-over-year decrease from 64,1% in 1Q12, but a solid increase from 61,4% Cisco held in the previous quarter. Cisco’s market share in the fast growing 10GbE market segment was 66,7% in 1Q13.