Sameh Boujelbene

Vice President

Deep technology and architectural shifts in the data center have fundamentally changed how servers, storage systems, and data center network equipment, are configured, selected, sold and deployed.  Two distinct customer types—namely the Cloud and Enterprise—have emerged, with very different needs and patterns of consumption, sending waves of change throughout the industry.

Dell’Oro Group is offering in-depth analysis specifically on Ethernet Switches built and optimized for deployment in the data center. Data Center networks predominantly connect servers and storage arrays.  This deep-dive analysis into the data center segment of the overall Ethernet Switch market portrays and explains the disruptive changes in data center network architecture.

To take advantage of the opportunities in this market, equipment vendors, component manufacturers, service providers, and financial institutions need to answer critical business questions including:

  • How are the Top 4 U.S. Cloud Service Providers performing vs. the Top 3 Chinese Cloud Service Providers vs. the Telco Service Providers vs. Enterprises?
  • How is speed migration to 25, 50, 100, 200, 400 Gbps, 800 Gbps and >1600 Gbps different across various customer segments?
  • What is the network topology, chip generation and speed implementation roadmap at the various hyperscalers?
  • Which SerDes technology is driving the different Ethernet switch speeds in the market?
  • At what rate are the top Cloud providers adopting white box switches?
  • At what rate the disaggregation beyond the hyperscalers being adopted and what role is SONiC playing in accelerating this trend?
  • If and when Co-packaged Optics may replace pluggable optics?

To answer these and other important questions, Dell’Oro Group currently delivers both quarterly reports and 5-year forecasts for this market segment.

What’s the difference among Dell’Oro Group’s Ethernet Switch reports?

  • Ethernet Switch—Campus reports provide a more detailed and comprehensive analysis focused on network connectivity of users and things (PCs, IP phones, security cameras, printers, wireless LAN access points, etc.) and excludes switches deployed in the data center.
  • Ethernet Switch—Data Center reports provide a more detailed and comprehensive analysis focused on the Data Center network and how the architecture of the network core is changing (connecting servers, storage systems, and aggregation switches, etc.)
  • Ethernet Switch—Layer 2+3 reports provide an overview of the entire Ethernet Switch market, including a view on Copper vs. Fiber Connections, Power over Ethernet, and Smart Managed switches, and separately reports software-based Ethernet switch functionality which is not included in the physical switch.

Ethernet Switch — Data Center Quarterly Reports

Our quarterly Ethernet Switch — Data Center reports offer a detailed view of this important segment of the Ethernet Switch L2+3 overall market, as distinct from the Ethernet Switch Campus market. In addition, our Ethernet Switch — Data Center reports contain in-depth market-level and vendor-level information on manufacturers’ revenue, ports shipped and average selling prices for the physical switches as listed below. Separately, we also report topline revenue attributed to the Software segment.  The report addressed software-based Ethernet Switch functionality that is not included in the physical switch.

Types of products within the Software segment are:

  • Custom end user based software that is designed and built by the end user for its own purposes and not for resale (for example, a controller built by Google for Google).
  • Vendor-based software that is built by a vendor for resale to multiple companies (for example, a Cumulus Operating system or Cisco’s APIC controller).

The research focuses on Ethernet switches for:

  • Server access and aggregation
  • Storage systems aggregation
  • Data Center core

We report on:

  • Modular and Fixed by Port Speed (combined and separately)
    • 1/10/25/40/50/100/200/400/800/≥1600 Gbps
  • Fixed Managed and Unmanaged by Port Speed (combined and separately)
    • 1/10/25/40/50/100/200/400/800/≥1600 Gbps
  • Customer Segments:
    • Cloud Service Providers
    • Telecom Service Providers
    • Large Enterprises or Private Cloud
    • Rest of Enterprises
  • Ethernet Switch Market – Data Center by region – Mfg. Revenue only, including North America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), APAC (Asia Pacific), APAC excluding China, China, and CALA (Caribbean and Latin America)

For a comprehensive view of the entire data center, we offer a package of data center equipment research including Data Center IT Capex, Ethernet Adapter & Smart NIC, and Ethernet Switches—Data Center.


Ethernet Switch — Data Center 5-Year Forecasts

Dell’Oro Group publishes Ethernet Switch — Data Center 5-year forecast reports offering a complete overview of the market.  Our forecasts include analysis and data on sales by customer type including separate reporting on:

  • Top 4 U.S. Cloud Service Providers
  • Top 3 Chinese Cloud Service Providers
  • Telecom Service Providers
  • Rest of Cloud
  • Large Enterprises or Private Cloud
  • Rest of Enterprises

The forecasts provide a comprehensive overview of market trends and include tables covering manufacturers’ revenue, port shipments, and average selling price forecasts for various technologies:

  • Modular and Fixed by Port Speed (combined and separately)
  • Fixed Managed and Unmanaged by Port Speed (combined and separately)

We forecast the following port speeds:

  • 1/10/25/40/50/100/200/400/800/≥1600 Gbps

We also provide additional segmentation such as:

  • Forecast by region – Mfg. Revenue only, including North America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), APAC (Asia Pacific), APAC excluding China, China, and CALA (Caribbean and Latin America)
  • Forecast of port speed by SerDes Speed
  • SONiC Forecast by Customer segment
  • Co-packaged Optics Forecast by Port Speeds

Click here to contact us for more information about the Ethernet Switch – Data Center research program or about purchasing option.