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   Worldwide Ethernet Switch Market Increased 7.0% Quarter Over Quarter in FourthQuarter of 2012FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(Business Wire)--Worldwide Ethernet switch (Layer 2/3) revenues reached $5.7 billion in thefourth quarter of 2012 (4Q12), representing growth of 7.0% sequentially and 0.5%year over year. Meanwhile, the worldwide router market increased 5.6% quarterover quarter even though it declined 0.2% year over year in 4Q12, according tothe International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Ethernet Switch andRouter Tracker. The 4Q12 results also show that the Ethernet switch market wasparticularly strong in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) with 15.6% year-over-yeargrowth, Middle East and Africa (MEA) (13.8%), and Latin America (12.0%).Meanwhile, continued weakness in Western Europe continued to weigh heavily onthe overall market with its 12.0% year-over-year decline. From other majorregions, Japan increased 3.5% year-over-year and North America declined slightly(-1.1%) in 4Q12. "While growth in the Ethernet switch market will largely come from 10GbE and40GbE in the coming years, it is encouraging to note that the market for GigabitEthernet is holding its own, largely in campus, aggregation, and network edgedeployments," said Rohit Mehra, Vice President, Network Infrastructure at IDC."While enterprise mobility is no doubt the focus for IT and network managers,the underlying wired infrastructure is also continuing to get mindshare in thecontext of a holistic approach to the network in delivering applications toend-users." 10GbE Ethernet switch (Layer 2/3) revenue increased 14.9% year over year and forthe first time crossed the $2 billion mark in a single quarter while 10GbE portshipments grew 43.9% year over year to just under 4 million ports in 4Q12. 10GbEcontinues to be the main driver of the overall Ethernet switch market. Worldwide Layer 4-7 switching market revenues grew 9.1% year over year to $421million in 4Q12. For the full year 2012 L4-7 market increased a healthy 12.5%year over year. The 4Q12 worldwide Router market declined 0.2% year over year, essentiallystaying flat despite the 5.6% sequential improvement over 3Q12. Regionally, themarket saw a very strong 25.3% year-over-year jump in Middle East and Africa and15% year over year growth in the U.S., but these were offset by a 21.4% declinein Western Europe and a 24.6% decrease in Japan. From a vendor perspective, Cisco's Ethernet switch (Layer 2/3) market share in4Q12 came in at 61.2% reflecting a year-over-year decrease from 64.0% in 4Q11.Cisco's market share in the fast growing 10GbE market segment stands at 66.1% in4Q12. A graphic showing the 4Q12 market shares of the top 5 vendors in the worldwideLayer 2/3 Ethernet switch market is available at IDC.com. The chart is intendedfor public use in online news articles and social media. Instructions on how toembed this graphic can be found by viewing this press release on IDC.com. "After a lackluster performance in the third quarter in both the switch androuter markets, sequential growth returned to the enterprise networkinfrastructure market in 4Q12, and even the marginal year-over-year growth wascreditworthy given the stronger performance of the market in the fourth quarterof last year," said Petr Jirovsk?, senior research analyst in IDC's NetworkingTrackers Group. "That said, overall market drivers, such as proliferation ofvideo traffic on the network, and the need to support a growing and diverse setof wired and wireless devices at the network edge will continue to keep theenterprise networking market relevant over the longer term." The IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Ethernet Switch and Router Tracker provides totalmarket size and vendor shares for the Ethernet switch and router technologies inan easy-to-use Excel pivot table format. The geographic coverage for both theEthernet switch market and the router market includes eight major regions (USA,Canada, Latin America, Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan), Japan, Western Europe,Central and Eastern Europe, and Middle East and Africa) and 58 countries. TheEthernet switch market is further segmented by speed (100Mb, 1000Mb, 10Gb,40Gb), form factor (fixed managed, fixed unmanaged, modular), and layer (L2, L3,L4-7). Measurement for the Ethernet switch market is provided in factoryrevenue, customer revenue, and port shipments. The router market is furthersplit by product class (high-end, mid-range, low-end, SOHO) and deployment(service provider, enterprise) and the measurements are in factory revenue,customer revenue, and unit shipments. For more information about IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Ethernet Switch and RouterTracker, please contact Kathy Nagamine (knagamine@idc.com). About IDC TrackersIDC Tracker products provide accurate and timely market size, vendor share, andforecasts for hundreds of technology markets from more than 100 countries aroundthe globe. Using proprietary tools and research processes, IDC's Trackers areupdated on a semiannual, quarterly, and monthly basis. Tracker results aredelivered to clients in user-friendly excel deliverables and on-line querytools. The IDC Tracker Charts app, available at iTunes, allows users to viewdata charts from the most recent IDC Tracker products on their iPhone and iPad. About IDCInternational Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of marketintelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology,telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. IDC helps IT professionals,business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based decisionson technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1,000 IDC analystsprovide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industryopportunities and trends in over 110 countries. For more than 48 years, IDC hasprovided strategic insights to help our clients achieve their key businessobjectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media,research, and events company. You can learn more about IDC by visiting
  www.idc.com.
  All product and company names may be trademarks or registered trademarks oftheir respective holders.  IDCRohit Mehra, 508-935-4343rmehra@idc.comorPetr Jirovsky, 413-313-6112pjirovsky@idc.comorMichael Shirer, 508-935-4200press@idc.comCopyright Business Wire 2013