25/100GE Switch Port Growth Surges; 200/400GE to Rise in 2019: IHS Markit

Worldwide data center Ethernet switch revenue grew 12 percent year-over-year (YoY) in 3Q17, reaching $2.9 billion, according to new research from IHS Markit.

Key segments driving demand were purpose-built switches, which grew 13 percent YoY and bare metal switches which grew 47 percent YoY. These trends continue to flourish as customers transition from traditional switches to white box and branded bare metal models.

Worldwide data center Ethernet switch ports shipped grew 24 percent YoY in 3Q17, reaching 12.5M. 25GE and 100GE experienced significant uptake, resulting in growth rates of 251 percent and 369 percent YoY respectively.  However, the two port speeds combined only make up 16 percent of ports shipped while 10GE still leads with 61 percent of ports shipped in 3Q17.

“We believe 200GE will be deployed first yet have a short shelf life as 400GE is expected to follow closely behind and will become the primary choice going forward, said Cliff Grossner, Ph.D., Senior Research Director and Advisor for the Cloud and Data Center Research Practice at IHS Markit. “The gap in time will be solely determined by how long it takes for the higher speed to become production-ready with adequate supply. CSPs will be the main customers for 200/400GE as they transition from 100GE in an effort to satisfy increasing high-bandwidth demands,”

IHS Markit forecasts 25/100GE ports shipped to rise to 46 percent combined and 10GE to decrease to 46 percent by 2021, as customers migrate from 10GE to 25GE server connections and 100GE ASPs decline making them more viable options for large and small cloud service providers (CSPs) to deploy.

The analysts expect trials for 200/400GE to begin in 2018 with production shipments occurring in 2019 and revenue to reach approximately $1B by 2021.

(For more information visit https://ihsmarkit.com.)