The state of the LAN landscape

摘要

Market leadership in most LAN switch categories can be summed up in one word―Cisco. But a closer look at the numbers reveals some new developments taking place at opposite ends of the switch spectrum. While Cisco leads most switch categories, the company is seeing fierce competition from a host of new lower-end competitors. New vendors also are emerging in some advanced switching categories, such as Layer 4 to Layer 7 and 10G Ethernet. Basic Ethernet equipment has become a commodity for the most part, as the market for Layer 2 gear has shrunk by more than $2 billion over the last three years, going from $10.7 billion in 2000 to about $7.4 billion in 2002, according to IDC. This trend is expected to continue through 2007. The average per-port price of $57 in 2003 is predicted to be about $20 in 2007.