White box switch vendors lose share in 100 GE data center switching market, report says

While white boxes hold the promise of splitting up hardware and software across cheaper off-the-shelf boxes, the near term wasn’t good for 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GE) data center switch vendors. 

According to a report Monday by Dell'Oro Group, white box vendors lost share in the 100 GE data center switching market this year while traditional vendors, such as H3C, Cisco and Huawei, gained.

"During 2018, sales of 100 GE Ethernet Switching has underpinned the entire strength of the data center market," said Sameh Boujelbene, senior director at Dell’Oro Group, in a prepared statement. "As users other than the top four U.S. cloud providers deploy 100 Gbps, such as enterprises and smaller cloud providers, they are sticking with branded vendors."

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Overall, 25 GE and 100 GE switch ports accounted for more than 40% of the revenue and more than one third of the shipments in the most recent third quarter.

Dell'Oro Group said that 100 GE ports will double this year and again in 2019 while the 400 GE refresh cycle is not expected to materialize until the 400 GE optics are available in 2020.

"We expect ongoing strength in 100 GE through 2019," Boujelbene said. "The vendors have certainly priced it attractively compared to 40 GE. We are seeing price levels in 2018 that we expected a year from now."