The global SAN equipment market, including Fibre Channel switches and iSCSI and Fibre Channel host bus adapters, totaled $631 million in 2Q13, an increase of 4% from 1Q13, but a decline of 8% from the year-ago quarter (2Q12), according to a new report from Infonetics. One of the biggest trends is the ramp in 16 Fibre Channel.
“Cisco’s 16G Fibre Channel ports are finally hitting the market, and we believe its customers’ pent-up demand for Fibre Channel inter-switch connection will help push 16G revenue past 8G by the end of 2013,” predicts Michael Howard, Infonetics Research’s co-founder and principal analyst for carrier networks. “Meanwhile, Brocade, which enjoyed a similar jump start when it came to market with 16G Fibre Channel in 2011, is settling in for the longer-term 16G replacement of 8G as the speed of choice.”
Cliff Grossner, directing analyst for data center and cloud at Infonetics, adds: “We’re forecasting 16G Fibre Channel switch revenue to grow at a 46% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2013 to 2017.”
Additional highlights:
- In the adapter segment, combined Fibre Channel and iSCSI revenue fell 5% in 2Q13 from the previous quarter
- Thanks to its introduction of 16G Fibre Channel, Cisco was able to buck a down quarter that plagued many of the other leading vendors in the SAN space
- In 2Q13, the worldwide high-performance interconnect equipment (HPI) market, including converged FCoE/Ethernet switches and converged network adapters, grew 26% sequentially, and is up 43% year-over-year
- Growth in the HPI market continues to reflect operators’ ongoing investments in data center infrastructure and interest in LAN/SAN convergence
- Sales of converged FCoE/Ethernet switches are up 26% in 2Q13 from 1Q13
