The Linley Group

PRESS RELEASE
03/09/04

Gigabit Ethernet Transition Opens Door for New Vendors

Vitesse and Agere Take on Broadcom and Marvell

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA—March 9, 2004—This is shaping up to be a banner year for Gigabit Ethernet silicon. With sales projected to exceed those of Fast Ethernet chips, vendors are using this technology transition to jockey for market share. Despite strong competition from incumbent vendors Broadcom and Marvell, new vendors are jumping into the Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) fray, enticed by the prospect of high growth and substantial size. With all of this new investment, the market for enterprise-networking silicon is becoming increasingly competitive according to "A Guide to Gigabit Ethernet Silicon," a new report announced by The Linley Group.

"Although the Ethernet market has long been dominated by Marvell and Broadcom, major communication vendors are finding its sheer size too tempting to ignore," says coauthor and senior analyst, Bob Wheeler. "New competitors are introducing innovative technology, but selecting the winners just became more complex."

"A Guide to Gigabit Ethernet Silicon" identifies three key GbE market segments:

GbE switches
GbE-over-Copper physical-layer (PHY) components
Single-chip controllers (MAC/PHY) for adapter (NIC) and LAN-on-motherboard (LOM) applications.

This all-new report from The Linley Group provides complete coverage on major vendors that offer products in multiple segments including Broadcom, Marvell, and Vitesse/Cicada. Also included is coverage of switch chips from SwitchCore and Fujitsu, PHY chips from National Semiconductor, controller products from Intel and Realtek, as well as other vendors in each segment.

"We're already seeing the first wave of acquisitions in this space, " says Jag Bolaria, coauthor and senior analyst at The Linley Group. "Large vendors are snapping up startups to fill holes in their solutions in order to capitalize on the demand and avoid getting left behind. The ever-increasing thirst for bandwidth is fueling the demand for devices capable of supporting that growth."

Get in-depth insight into product strengths and weaknesses with key details presented in a consistent, easy-to-compare fashion. The authors pay particular attention to product features, performance, architecture, system design, and vendor roadmaps. The Linley Group’s expert analysis and conclusions help you identify critical differences in these products.

Which startups are poised for success and which will fail? Only The Linley Group provides the deep technology analysis you need to understand this market. If you want to make informed business decisions in this market, "A Guide to Gigabit Ethernet Silicon" provides the critical information you need.

Unlike typical market research, this report provides technology analysis rather than quantitative market data. Which chips will win designs and why? How will these vendors be positioned as GbE takes off? Only The Linley Group’s unique technology analysis can provide this forward-looking view.

About The Linley Group

The Linley Group is the leading provider of independent technology analysis for the networking-silicon industry, covering emerging areas such as network processors, Gigabit Ethernet, switch fabrics, search engines, 802.11 chip sets, security processors, control-plane processors, communications processors, high-speed interconnects, and storage networking processors. The company provides in-depth technology reports and interactive seminars as well as strategic consulting services tailored to the individual client. To get free access to The Linley Group's analysis of recent news and events in this market segment, subscribe to The Linley Wire, our e-mail newsletter.

download PDF version