With the introduction of 16G Fibre Channel ports from providers like Cisco, Fiber Channel switch revenue is set to grow at a 46 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2013 to 2017, says Infonetics Research.
Cisco’s 16G Fibre Channel debut was able to buck a down quarter that plagued many of the other leading vendors in the SAN space, Infonetics Research’s 2nd quarter 2013 (2Q13) SAN and High Performance Interconnect Equipment report said.
“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,” Howard said.
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 percent from 1Q13, but a decline of 8 percent from the year-ago quarter (2Q12)
In the adapter segment, combined Fibre Channel and iSCSI revenue fell 5 percent in 2Q13 from the previous quarter.
In 2Q13, the worldwide high-performance interconnect equipment (HPI) market, including converged FCoE/Ethernet switches and converged network adapters, grew 26 percent sequentially, and is up 43 percent year-over-year.
Growth in the HPI market continues to reflect operators’ ongoing investments in data center infrastructure and interest in LAN/SAN convergence, the research said.
Sales of converged FCoE/Ethernet switches are up 26 percent in 2Q13 from 1Q13.
