Cisco cements leadership status: Growth despite mature market

Both Cisco and HP Enterprise experienced growth in 2015, cementing their leadership status across numerous sectors. According to a new report from Synergy Research Group, the end of the year brought good news for Cisco, which celebrated being the recognized market leader in the majority of the segments included in the study.

Cisco: A jack of all trades

Synergy researchers included seven categories in its study, and Cisco was crowned the king of six of those sectors. Overall, the tech giant was identified as the top vendor of Ethernet switches, voice systems, unified communications applications, routers, telepresence and WLAN solutions.

The only category it did not win was the data center server sector, where it ranked in fifth place. However, Cisco is gaining ground here as well.

“Cisco remains in a league of its own, accounting for a third of the market and gaining market share in the only segment where it is not the current leader,” said Jeremy Duke, Synergy Research Group founder and chief analyst.

Challenging the leader: HP Enterprise

Synergy researchers recognized HP Enterprise as the leader of the data center servers market. In addition, the vendor was also ranked second in the Ethernet and routers sectors, closing the gap between its business and Cisco. Following its acquisition of Aruba recently, the vendor also took second in the WLAN segment.

HPE saw an 18 percent aggregate market share during 2015, representing a 1 percent increase compared to the previous year.

“Across these hardware-oriented product areas HPE is the only broad-based challenger to Cisco’s dominance and it has been steadily increasing its share of the market,” Duke noted.

iT1 Source has partnerships with several market leaders, including Cisco and HP Enterprise.

Overall growth in a mature market

Researchers also discovered a 2.3 percent aggregate increase across all seven market sectors, InfoWorld reported. This growth was somewhat surprising when the industry’s maturity and recent stagnant expansion is taken into account.

“The overall 2 percent growth shown in this research is actually a step up from the previous year, when spending was essentially flat,” John Dinsdale, Synergy chief analyst and managing director, told InfoWorld in an email.

In total, the seven segments racked up approximately $80 billion in aggregate revenues, each contributing $19 to $21 billion. The data center server market, where HPE is the leader, accounts for the largest portion of revenues, and experienced 2 percent growth overall. However, the WLAN and Ethernet switch sectors grew the most, with over a 4 percent expansion.

Partnering with industry leaders

All of the segments included in Synergy Research’s report are in top demand in the enterprise sector currently, with demands for Cisco and HP Enterprise solutions steadily increasing.

Thankfully, businesses can create a unified set of solutions by working with iT1 Source. We’ve cemented partnerships with a number of industry leaders – iT1 is an HP Enterprise certified specialist, as well as Cisco Premier Partner. In this way, we can provide the best solutions to address a range of technological needs. To find out more, be sure to contact us today.