Gartner 2018 Data Center Network Magic Quadrant: Key Changes and Market Insights

On July 11, Gartner released the 2018 Data Center Network Magic Quadrant, noting several important changes compared with the previous year.

In the Leaders quadrant, Cisco now clearly leads, and Juniper appears for the first time, positioning close to Arista. The author notes that the rise of Juniper is surprising and speculates on the reasons.

C company holds 30% market share. J company holds 5% market share.

The second‑tier vendors include Huawei and DellEMC. Huawei, now in the Challenger quadrant, has overtaken some traditional leaders, while DellEMC sits in the Visionary quadrant, leveraging its “grey‑box” strategy and collaborations with companies such as Big Switch, Cumulus, and Pluribus. VMware, part of the Dell family, also performs well in the Visionary quadrant.

Software‑oriented players receive much applause but may not translate that into market share. Companies focusing on SDN, white‑box hardware, and ONIE (e.g., the four firms shown in the accompanying diagram) are highlighted, though the actual market size remains uncertain.

Legacy vendor Extreme Networks, founded in 1996, has risen in the quadrant after acquiring Brocade, which doubled its port market share. HPE’s networking portfolio is described as a “mishmash,” including products from New H3C, Altoline (Accton), Arista, Nuage, and VMware NSX.

Chinese “three heroes” – Huawei, New H3C, and Lenovo – all appear in the quadrant, though they still rely on foreign switch ASICs. Huawei moves slightly closer to the Leaders quadrant, New H3C lags behind Huawei in market share, and Lenovo remains a steady “vice‑class leader,” with its data‑center line stemming from the IBM‑acquired BNT and a partnership with Juniper.

Gartner’s 2017 data shows a 32% growth in port shipments, with ODM suppliers growing 123%. By 2020, 25‑Gbps ports are expected to surpass 10‑Gbps ports. The competitive landscape is shifting from pure rivalry to “coopetition,” illustrated by partnerships such as Dell EMC‑VMware, HPE’s stake in New H3C, and various collaborations involving Cumulus, Mellanox, Big Switch, and others.

● Dell EMC and VMware – Dell holds over 80% of VMware. ● HPE owns 49% of New H3C and resells Arista and VMware products while supporting Cumulus. ● Dell strongly supports Cumulus NOS software. ● Cumulus has its own hardware and integrates with HPE, Dell, Mellanox switches. ● VMware’s NSX runs on many vendors’ switches and integrates deeply with Cisco and Juniper. ● Big Switch provides hardware and supports HPE and Dell switches. ● Lenovo partners with Juniper, using Contrail for overlay solutions.

Gartner also highlights several technology trends that could influence switch development: Automation and agility, Containers and micro‑services, Hyper‑converged systems, Multicloud, Visibility and analytics, Programmable chips, Intent‑based networking, and NVMe/RoCE.

Finally, Gartner cautions readers not to use the Magic Quadrant as a procurement guide and to treat the analysis as informational only.

Article originally sourced from the 小黑羊JoinWings WeChat public account.