Strong shipment and revenue growth in the modular or chassis-based segment propelled the data center Ethernet switch market to new highs in 3Q13, according to a new report from Crehan Research.
As indicated in the graph above, the report shows that after some past under-performance compared to other major data center Ethernet switch segments, modular data center switches posted a second consecutive quarter of robust growth. According to Crehan, Cisco continues to hold a strong market share leadership position in this segment on the strength of its current flagship modular data center Ethernet switch, the Nexus 7000.
Related: 'Exponential growth' in 10GBase-T switch ports forecasted
"A strong upgrade cycle in server access Ethernet switches has driven demand for modular Ethernet switches in data-center network aggregation and core deployments," said Seamus Crehan, president of Crehan Research. "Furthermore, a recent flurry of exciting new product introductions with attractive throughput, pricing and port densities in conjunction with software-defined feature sets has reinvigorated interest in this segment."
Crehan added, "These modular data center product introductions include Arista's 7300X and 7500E, Cisco's Nexus 7700 and 9500, HP's FlexFabric 11900 and 12900 and Juniper's EX9200 core switch." With its mid-year long-range data center switch forecast, the researcher predicts that these types of next-gen product introductions will start to drive data center networking beyond the current 10-Gigabit era.