Shipment of 25Gbps ports reached new heights in 1Q 2019

In a newly published report by Dell'Oro Group, shipments of 25 Gbps Ethernet controller and adapter ports reached a new height in 1Q 2019 despite the server market slowdown.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Ethernet Controller and Adapter market remains challenged.

"Shipment of 25 Gbps ports surpassed 1.5 million, the highest level ever, despite a slowdown in server shipments to Amazon, the largest end-user of 25 Gbps," says Dell'Oro Group director Baron Fung.

"The Tier 2 Cloud and high-end Enterprise segments drove the demand for 25 Gbps, displacing 10 Gbps ports. Growth of 10 Gbps ports was further hampered as the general enterprise segment, which is transitioning to 10 Gbps, started to ease out of a server refresh cycle."

Additional highlights from the 1Q 2019 Controller - Adapter Quarterly Report include:

• Total controller and adapter port shipments declined 3% quarter-over-quarter in 1Q 2019.
   
• Mellanox gained revenue and port shipment share over Intel, Marvell, and Broadcom.
   
• 25 and 100 Gbps ports are expected to drive the majority of growth in 2019.
   
• The Smart NIC market is forecast to grow nearly 24% in 2019.

Increasing bandwidth requirements, data center consolidation, and virtualization are driving demand for 10, 25, 40, 50, and 100 Gbps Ethernet controllers and adapters.

To take advantage of the opportunities in this market, component manufacturers, equipment vendors, service providers, and financial institutions need to answer critical business questions including:

• How quickly are data centers migrating server connections to 10, 25, 40, 50, and 100 Gbps Ethernet?
• How is server migration to high speeds different between enterprise data centers and Cloud data centers?
• How is server migration to high speeds different between stand-alone (rack and tower), blade and high-density servers?
• What is the adoption of the various fibre and copper technologies such as 10G Base-T?
• Which system and component vendors are gaining market share?
• What and where is the current adoption of Smart NICs, and which vendors will be participating in this market?

The Dell'Oro Group Controller and Adapter Quarterly Report provides complete, in-depth coverage of the market with tables covering manufacturers' revenue; average selling prices; and unit and port shipments by speed (1 Gbps, 10 Gbps, 25 Gbps, 40 Gbps, 50 Gbps, and 100 Gbps) for Ethernet and Fibre Channel Over Ethernet (FCoE) controllers and adapters.

The report also includes coverage of Smart NIC and InfiniBand controllers and adapters.