400 gigabit Ethernet (GbE) switches will see initial shipments this year and will grow exponentially, driving the majority of data center Ethernet switch bandwidth by 2022, according to a newly published Data Center Switch Long-Range Forecast Report by Crehan Research Inc.
In addition to a strong ramp of 400GbE, Crehan’s report predicts that:
- 400GbE data center switches will offer a bandwidth discount over lower speed switches during the initial year of shipments 400GbE adoption will be further bolstered by the arrival of 100G-PAM4 SerDes, likely in the 2020 timeframe, thus reducing the number of lanes required to achieve 400GbE by half – from 8*50 to 4*100 – and further lessening the cost and power of these data center switches
- 100GbE shipments will surpass 40GbE shipments during 2018, just three years after the initial shipments of high-density 100GbE data center switch systems
- The overall market average selling price per port for data center switching will remain relatively stable, driven by the adoption of higher-speed switches
“Beginning with high-density 100GbE systems, we entered a new era of much faster data center switch upgrades, and that trend is predicted to continue with 400GbE,” said Seamus Crehan, president of Crehan Research. “With its expected market-leading price per gigabit and no foreseeable shortage of demand for higher-speed networking capacity in cloud data centers, 400GbE should surpass a million ports shipped in less time than it took 100GbE to reach that threshold.”