Solid growth reported in data centre equipment

Analyst group Infonetics has posted some positive news for  data centre equipment and storage area network (SAN) equipment growth throughout 2012. It reported decent growth by the end of 2011.

Thanks to data centre upgrades the world over, all equipment market centres experienced growth. It was not phenomenal compared to the enormous uptick in 2010 – 59 percent year on year – but still enjoyed nine percent in 2011. Infonetics’ directing analyst in data centre and cloud, Sam Barnett, predicts double digit revenue percent increases for 2012.

Sales in network equipment improved in the fourth quarter of 2011, proving there is a market opportunity in data centre ethernet switches, application delivery controllers, and WAN optimisation appliances, growing nine percent overall for the final quarter to $2.36 billion.

Compared to the fourth quarter a year prior, the data centre network equipment market is up overall by 15 percent. However, Infonetics predicts that as industry buyers slow down investment cycles and look to other segments, the market should taper.

2011 total data centre equipment revenues was $8.4 billion, with Cisco the clear leader thanks largely to its ethernet switch sales. It did lose some share in switches, WAN optimisation, and application delivery controllers. F5 remained top dog in the application delivery controller segment, increasing revenues by 20 percent. Second place HP challenged the Cisco-led ethernet switch market as it increased revenues 38 percent.

Meanwhile, the Storage Area Network (SAN) equipment is set for 50 percent growth in 2012. This will be thanks to fibre channel adapters, fibre channel over ethernet (FCoE) converged network adapters and switches.

Barnett said the world can expect “eye-popping growth” in the nascent 16G fibre channel host bus adapters segment.

In the last quarter of 2011, SAN switches and adapters reached 12.5 percent up to $1.3 billion dollars. This is the seventh consecutive quarterly gain for the market.

Compared to the previous quarter, FCoE grew 24 percent. Cisco led the charge and held 88 percent of the market worldwide. Brocade won out in fibre channel SAN switches, finishing 2011 with two thirds of revenue. For SAN adapters, QLogic and Emulex controlled the lion’s share, but Infonetics warned that competitors are catching up.

The forecast reports are available through the Infonetics portal here.