Blade Server Interconnects Drive FCoE Market – Crehan Research

According to the Data Center Switch Report from Crehan Research Inc., in 1Q13 the FCoE segment posted greater than 20% shipment growth over the year-ago quarter.

Blade server interconnects, which account for less than a fifth of the total market, continue to drive FCoE growth and now comprise more than half of all FCoE port shipments, as illustrated in the accompanying figure.

"Given the importance of space, cable, power and component savings within blade servers and their chassis enclosures, and the fact that FCoE and convergence offer improvements across all these vectors, it’s not surprising that FCoE adoption has been strongest in the blade server segment of the market," said Seamus Crehan , president, Crehan Research. "This growth is further bolstered by the fact that some parts of the FCoE solution are being offered at no additional price premium."

The report also shows that in contrast to FCoE growth, the FC switch market experienced a decline in 1Q13, with shipments falling 7% both quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year.

Weakness at some of the large storage OEMs, in addition to a pause in purchasing by Cisco’s customers in anticipation of its recently announced MDS 9700 platform, were contributors to the quarter’s soft results.

Because 10GbE is the central technology in enabling the strong FCoE and convergence value proposition in blade servers, 10GbE has seen very strong adoption in the blade server segment.