Router Market on Upswing

Enterprises and telcos gobbled up switches and routers during first quarter, according to new industry analyst research — a development that points to reinvigorated interest among IT buyers in networking gear.

According to IDC‘s Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Networks Tracker report for the first quarter of 2010, Ethernet switch revenues ballooned by 35.3 percent on a year-over-year basis. Growth in switch revenues came in part from increased demand for 10-gigabit Ethernet, which hit a new milestone in the first quarter of 2010.

“The 1Q10 results include a remarkable 111.2 percent year-over-year increase in 10GbE switch revenue, and for the first time, 10GbE revenue surpassed the $1 billion mark, reaching $1.15 billion for the quarter,” said Petr Jirovský, a senior research analyst at IDC, said in a statement. “The 10Gb adoption was driven by data center, cloud, and campus buildouts.”

Growth in switching revenues for 2010 comes after declines reported by IDC in 2009.

In term’s of Ethernet switching vendors, IDC identified Cisco as having the biggest share gains. According to IDC, Cisco’s Ethernet switching revenue market share hit 68.5 percent during the quarter, which is the highest level reported for Cisco since 2006.

Read the rest at Enterprise Networking Planet.