Global ethernet switch vendor market share 2011-2020, by quarter

In the third quarter of 2020, Cisco ranked first among vendors, occupying a share of 49.9 percent of the global Ethernet switch market, while Huawei ranked second. Key growth areas in the Ethernet switch market include hyperscale data centers and cloud providers who are investing in new technology platforms to support demand.

Ethernet switches explained

Ethernet switches are an integral piece of information technology (IT) infrastructure, capable of receiving, processing, and transmitting data between two devices connected by a physical layer. At their most basic, switches can forward data selectively to one or more connected devices on the same network. In this way, Ethernet switches can control the flow of traffic passing through a network, maximizing the network's efficiency and security.

Cisco’s Ethernet switch competitors

Cisco has consistently been the biggest contributor of global ethernet switch revenues, with the Chinese firm Huawei and the fellow American company Arista Networks both generating strong revenues in this market too. Historically, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) was the closest competitor of Cisco, although their market share has dropped significantly over recent years. HPE’s Ethernet switch market share now stands at around half the size of what the company used to occupy.