Worldwide Ethernet Switch and Router Markets Decline in Q1 2020, According to IDC

The Worldwide Ethernet switch market recorded $6.16 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2020 (1Q20), a decrease of 8.9% year over year. Meanwhile, the worldwide total enterprise and service provider (SP) router market revenues fell 16.4% year over year in 1Q20 to $2.99 billion. These market results were published today in the International Data Corporation (IDC) Quarterly Ethernet Switch Tracker and IDC Quarterly Router Tracker.

A variety of factors led to the weakening of these markets across the globe. Despite the Ethernet switch market growing 2.3% for the full year 2019, in the fourth quarter of 2019 the market fell 2.2%, indicating that the market's slow end to 2019 spilled into 1Q20. The first quarter of 2020 was also impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic that swept across the world throughout the quarter, specifically disrupting supply chains while weakening customer demand. IDC expects the negative impact of COVID-19 on both the Ethernet switch and router markets to continue in the second quarter of 2020.

Ethernet Switch Market Highlights

From a geographic perspective, the 1Q20 Ethernet switch market saw mixed results across the globe. The Middle East and Africa (MEA) region declined 2.9%, with Saudi Arabia's market off 12.7% year over year. Across Europe, growth was uneven. The Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region grew 3.7% compared to a year earlier, with Russia up 23.2% year over year. The Western Europe market fell 12.9% with Germany losing 10.6% year over year and the United Kingdom off 18.4% from a year earlier.

The Asia/Pacific region (excluding Japan and China) (APeJC) declined 7.0% year over year, with India off 11.3% and Australia declining 16.2% year over year. The People's Republic of China was down 14.6% year over year while Japan was relatively flat with a 0.1% increase compared to the first quarter of 2019. The Latin American market dropped 9.7% year over year, while the market in the United States declined 8.7% annually and Canada fell 7.2% year over year.

"Weakness in the Ethernet switch and routing markets at the end of 2019 continued into the first quarter of 2020, which was exacerbated by the onset of the novel coronavirus and subsequent lockdown of economies around the globe as 1Q20 progressed," said Brad Casemore, research vice president, Datacenter and Multicloud Networks. "Meanwhile, diverging trends intensify in the Ethernet switch market as hyperscale and cloud providers invest in greater datacenter scale and higher bandwidths while enterprises continue to refresh campus networks with lower-speed switch ports."

Growth in the Ethernet switch market continues to be driven by the highest speed switching platforms. For example, port shipments for 100Gb switches rose 52.1% year over year to $5.5 million. 100Gb revenues grew 9.9% year over year in 1Q20 to $1.28 billion, making up 20.8% of the market's revenue. 25Gb switches also saw impressive growth, with revenues increasing 58.9% to $482.9 million and port shipments growing 67.7% year over year. Lower-speed campus switches, a more mature part of the market, saw mixed results in port shipments and revenue, as average selling prices (ASPs) in this segment continue to decline. 10Gb port shipments rose 3.9% year over year, but revenue declined 21.4%. 10Gb switches make up 24.8% of the market's total revenue. 1Gb switches declined 3.8% year over year in port shipments and fell 11.9% in revenue. 1Gb now accounts for 39.0% of the total Ethernet switch market's revenue.

Router Market Highlights

The worldwide enterprise and service provider router market decreased 16.4% on a year-over-year basis in 1Q20, with the major service provider segment, which accounts for 75.1% of revenues, decreasing 16.8% and the enterprise segment of the market declining 15.3%. From a regional perspective, the combined service provider and enterprise router market fell 29.4% in APeJC. Japan's total market grew 8.4% year over year and the People's Republic of China market was off 10.9%. Revenues in Western Europe declined 23.5% year over year, while the combined enterprise and service provider market in the CEE region declined 17.1%. The MEA region was down 5.2%. In the U.S., the enterprise segment was down 12.2%, while service provider revenues fell 19.6%, giving the combined markets a year-over-year drop of 17.5%. The Latin America market declined 15.9% on an annualized basis.

Vendor Highlights

Cisco finished 1Q20 with a 12.0% year-over-year decline in overall Ethernet switch revenues and market share of 51.9%. In the hotly contested 25Gb/100Gb segment, Cisco is the market leader with 39.8% of the market's revenue. Cisco's combined service provider and enterprise router revenue declined 28.1% year over year, with enterprise router revenue decreasing 18.7% and SP revenues falling 33.8%. Cisco's combined SP and enterprise router market share stands at 36.3%.

Huawei's Ethernet switch revenue declined 14.0% on an annualized basis, giving the company a market share of 8.4%. The company's combined SP and enterprise router revenue declined 2.1% year over year, resulting in a market share of 28.8%.

Arista Networks saw its Ethernet switch revenues decline 18.7% in 1Q20, bringing its share to 6.7% of the total market. 100Gb revenues account for 73.7% of the company's total revenue, reflecting the company's longstanding presence at hyperscalers and other cloud providers.

HPE's Ethernet switch revenue increased 6.7% year over year, giving the company a market share of 6.2%, up from 5.3% market share the same quarter a year earlier.

Juniper's Ethernet switch revenue rose 14.1% year over year in 1Q20, bringing its market share to 3.3%. Juniper saw a 16.0% decline in combined enterprise and SP router sales, bringing its market share in the router market to 10.5%.

"Results in the Ethernet switch and routing markets were fairly consistent across geographies, indicating the widespread impact the Coronavirus has had on both markets across the globe," notes Petr Jirovsky, research director, IDC Networking Trackers. "At the end of 2019, a variety of factors contributed to economic uncertainty, including tensions related to the US-China trade war, Brexit being finalized, and then in the first quarter of 2020, the novel coronavirus. While results from some countries have been mixed in 1Q20, the dynamics across these markets will continue to evolve significantly in the near term. IDC will monitor these trends and their impact across all geographies and segments of these markets."

A graphic illustrating worldwide revenues for the top 5 Ethernet switch companies over the previous five quarters is available by viewing this press release on IDC.com.

The IDC Quarterly Ethernet Switch Tracker and the IDC Quarterly Router Tracker provide total market size and vendor shares for the Ethernet switch and router technologies in an easy-to-use Excel pivot table format. The geographic coverage for both the Ethernet switch market and the router market includes nine major regions (USA, Canada, Latin America, People's Republic of China, Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan & China), Japan, Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and Middle East and Africa) and 60 countries. The Ethernet switch market is further segmented by speed (100Mb, 1000Mb, 10Gb, 25Gb, 40Gb, 50Gb, 100Gb), product (fixed managed, fixed unmanaged, modular), and layer (L2, L3, ADC). Measurement for the Ethernet switch market is provided in vendor revenue, value, and port shipments. The router market is further split by product (high-end, mid-range, low-end, SOHO), deployment (service provider, enterprise), connectivity (core, edge), and the measurements are in vendor revenue, value, and unit shipments.

About IDC Trackers

IDC Tracker products provide accurate and timely market size, vendor share, and forecasts for hundreds of technology markets from more than 100 countries around the globe. Using proprietary tools and research processes, IDC's Trackers are updated on a semiannual, quarterly, and monthly basis. Tracker results are delivered to clients in user-friendly excel deliverables and online query tools.

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About IDC

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading tech media, data and marketing services company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDC and LinkedIn. Subscribe to the IDC Blog for industry news and insights: http://bit.ly/IDCBlog_Subscribe.

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