Cisco Share Slips

As Cisco shifts resources toward security, cloud and the Internet of Things, the networking leader's market share in its bread-and-butter switching and routing is slipping due to heavy competition from the likes of Arista Networks, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Huawei, according to data from Synergy Research Group.

"Cisco cannot afford to take its eye off the ball on switching and routing," said John Dinsdale, chief analyst at Synergy. "This really is Cisco's game to lose."

Although Cisco is still the dominant worldwide network leader, commanding 53 percent of the overall switching and routing market in the second quarter, looking at rolling annualized numbers – comparing the last four quarters in total with the previous four quarters – Cisco's market share has dropped in the enterprise switching and service provider routing segments. Using Synergy's data, CRN breaks down the market and vendor landscape.