Power over Ethernet (PoE) technology describes a system to safely carry electrical power, along with data, on Ethernet cabling. This technology is especially useful for powering IP telephones, wireless LAN access points, cameras with pan tilt and zoom (PTZ), remote Ethernet switches, embedded computers, thin clients, and LCDs. As a result, port shipments are on the rise to the point where Cisco has seen a 45 percent gain in 2010, according to In-Stat.

"After a sluggish 2009, Cisco's Power over Ethernet port shipments took off in 2010," says Brad Shaffer, an industry analyst with In-Stat. "Industry wide, shipments of Power over Ethernet ports remained relatively flat in 2010 accounting for about 15.6 percent of total port shipments. While Cisco is by far the market leader in Power over Ethernet shipments, the other top vendors also experienced an increase in shipments. NETGEAR and HP Networking both also posted impressive gains in Power over Ethernet shipments, rising 36 percent and 33 percent, respectively.

Recent In-Stat research,4Q10 Ethernet Switch Database: By Region, Form Factor, Wire Speed, OSI Layer, and Vendor (#IN1105030LS), provides highly detailed segmentation of the worldwide Ethernet switch market for the current and eleven preceding quarters, breaking down port shipments and manufacturers' revenues by the following categories:
  • Region (North America, EMEA, Asia/Pacific, and CALA).
  • Form Factor (Fixed, Modular).
  • Wire Speed (Fast, Gigabit, and 10 Gigabit Ethernet).
  • OSI Layer (Unmanaged, Web Smart, L2, L3, and L4-7).
  • Vendor (18 Vendors).
In-Stat's 4Q10 Ethernet Switch Database is an Excel pivot-table deliverable with over 7,000 individual data points, and 18 detailed data tables.