Sales of 10 Gbps Ethernet controllers and adapters rose 57 percent versus the year ago quarter, to just under $100 million during the fourth quarter of 2010, according to the Dell’Oro Group. The Controller and Adapter report, which tracks sales and shipment performance of the top 9 manufacturers, reflects how the 10 Gbps LOM market is transitioning, particularly as Hewlett-Packard shifts its blade server business from Broadcom to Emulex.
“What really took us by surprise was the strength in network adapters rather than LAN on Motherboard, or LOM,” said Tam Dell’Oro, President of Dell’Oro Group. “Intel and Solarflare just about doubled their adapter shipments quarter-over-quarter, while Emulex’s were up over 60 percent, and all this is on the older generation servers that support 50 Gbps of in/out throughput. What do you suppose will happen when the next generation servers with over 100 Gbps of throughput start shipping?” added Dell’Oro.
