Data Center Equipment Sales Rebound

Sales of data center Ethernet switches hit $3.2 billion in 2009, capped by a very strong fourth quarter, indicating a resurgence in data center build-outs and a general recovery in network equipment sales, according to new research from Infonetics.

The research company also cited gains in the WAN optimization market, where sales grew 7 percent to reach $256 million for the fourth quarter. Infonetics also saw strength in the market for application delivery controllers (ADCs), with sales increasing 14 percent between the third and fourth quarters.

In another sign of the industry's resiliency, new data from TeleGeography indicates that international network operators "have weathered the recession surprisingly well," the research firm said.

"International bandwidth usage increased 60 percent in 2009, in line with the past two years, and well ahead of the trend of 2002-2006. Growth has been particularly rapid in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America," TeleGeography reported in its Comms Update. "However, capacity requirements to seemingly mature markets, such as Europe and the US, have also grown at a compounded annual rate of more than 50 percent since 2002."

TeleGeography said that growing requirements for capacity and route diversity have spurred a boom in submarine cable construction. Seventeen new cables were built in 2009, and investment in submarine cable construction in 2010 is projected to top last year’s levels.