Crehan sees factors falling in place for strong 10-Gigabit Ethernet growth

USA:  In its newly-released 1Q13 Server-Class Adapter & LAN-on-Motherboard (LOM) Report, Crehan Research sees the 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) market poised for strong growth as a number of factors fall into place, including:

* 10GbE inventory reductions at major server OEMs, clearing the way for additional sales.
* Price reductions, stimulating end-user 10GbE demand.
* Broader product offerings including additional 10GBASE-T Modular LAN-on-Motherboard (LOM) and quad-port 10GbE  (despite the lack of a full set of offerings from all the major OEMs, 1Q13 10GBASE-T Adapter and LOM shipments jumped 60 percent to approach a one-million port annual run rate).
* The launch of Intel-based Ivy Bridge server platforms in the latter half of 2013, bringing an opportunity and value proposition for users to upgrade their servers and incorporate 10GbE networking.

In contrast to the Gigabit Ethernet (1GbE) server networking transition – where 1GbE chip-down LOM solutions were often included free with the server platform to end customers, thus driving a rapid 1GbE upgrade – 10GbE is offered mostly as an option card.

This is reflected in a still-high server-adapter card mix. As shown in the accompanying figure, the 10GbE card mix is still close to 50 percent, even 10 years after the initial 10GbE server adapter introduction. Since option cards remain such a significant part of the overall shipment mix, full product offerings and attractive pricing in this segment are very important in driving overall 10GbE market growth.