WAN optimization market up 12 p.c in 2Q12

CAMPBELL, USA: WAN optimization revenue rose 12 per cent sequentially in 2Q12, but is flat year-over-year, finds research firm Infonetics Research.

"Led by strong performances from Bluecoat, Cisco, and Riverbed, the WAN optimization segment bounced back nicely from its train wreck in the first quarter to double-digit growth," notes Sam Barnett, directing analyst, data centre and cloud, Infonetics Research. "However, we believe that market saturation will hamper any meaningful long-term growth in this space, driving the major players to eye adjacent markets for new revenue opportunities within established and loyal account bases."

In its second quarter 2012 (2Q12) Data Center Network Equipment vendor market share and forecast report, it also finds that application delivery controllers (ADCs) segment grew only three per cent in 2Q12 from the previous quarter, while its year-over-year growth rate slowed to 13 per cent from much higher growth velocity seen in previous quarters.

"Despite modest improvement from the previous quarter, growth in application delivery controllers (ADCs) is slowing from a year ago, due in large part to the lower average selling price of virtual-based solutions. Though on a positive note, Infonetics expects virtual solutions to open the door for the penetration of ADC technology into small- and medium-sized businesses-an area that historically has not been targeted by the leading vendors in this space," Barnett adds.

Riverbed dominates the WAN optimization segment, with more than half of worldwide revenue in 2Q12; Cisco remains firmly in second.

In 2Q12, F5 retained its perennial #1 ADC market share position and #2 Citrix continues to gain market share.

10G ports account for 38 per cent of data centre switch ports in 2Q12 - much higher than in the general Ethernet switch market - and are forecast to grow to nearly three-fourth of ports by 2016.