Switch to profit

Worldwide layer 2-3 Ethernet switch revenue increased 10% to $3.7 billion and ports jumped 11% to $66 million between the first and second quarters of 2005, according to

quarterly market share and forecast service, L2-L7 LAN Switches. Worldwide L2-L3 Ethernet switch revenue is forecast to hit $16.4 billion in 2008.

Worldwide layer 4-7 switch revenue is up 33% from a year ago and up 2% from last quarter to $179 million; unit shipments were down 4%.

"Switch vendors increased revenue across the board, with the exception of Allied Telesyn due to their higher exposure to Japan and the different seasonality pattern there," said Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst at Infonetics Research. "But Cisco's performance had the greatest impact on the market. Not only did their switch business return to growth after two down quarters, but growth was quite strong, in the double digits."

L2-L7 LAN Switches tracks layer 2-3 Ethernet switches, broken out by managed and unmanaged fixed configuration, chassis, and PoE switches, and layer 4-7 switches (with and without SSL). Forecasts, updated quarterly, cover North America, EMEA, Asia Pacific, CALA, and worldwide.