The recent influx of bandwidth-hungry applications in the enterprise has created an insatiable need for faster data speeds. Fortunately, 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GbE) technology offers data speeds up to 10 billion bits per second, ten times that of 1 GbE, allowing companies of any size and stature to deliver applications such as High-Performance Computing, Virtualization and Web 2.0.

This emerging technology, which is predominately being used to interconnect local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs), is well on its way to experiencing widespread commercial adoption. In fact, a recent market research study found that the Ethernet switch market just had its most successful quarter to date.

Officials with Dell' (News - Alert)Oro Group, a networking and telecommunications research firm, discovered that Ethernet Switch market revenue and port shipments increased drastically in the third quarter. Overall, profits rose by 33 percent last quarter, compared to the same period in 2009.

"10 Gigabit Ethernet and data center switches continue to drive most of the revenue growth in the Ethernet Switch market," Alan Weckel, Director of Ethernet Switch Market Research at Dell'Oro Group, said in a statement.  

"While we expect overall market growth to slow considerably in 2011, we expect data center products will continue to expand in 2011, led by 10 Gigabit Ethernet as it continues to grow not only as a server connectivity technology, but also as an aggregation technology within the data center," he continued.

The study found that the majority of revenue growth in the space was attributed to the uptick in data center deployments. Dell'Oro Group officials anticipate that 2011 will be an even stronger year for the Ethernet Switch market, with data center deployments again being the key driver of revenue.

In related news, Chelsio Communications (News - Alert), Inc., a leading provider of 10-Gigabit Ethernet networking and storage solutions, recently announced that the company's ESX/ESXi 4.02/4.1 and Virtual Multi-port drivers for its 10GbE adapters have achieved VMware Ready status, and have been added to the VMware Hardware Compatibility List.

By passing VMware's series of thorough evaluations and tests, Chelsio can now guarantee that its adapters are of the highest quality and are ready for customer deployment.

"We are pleased that the standalone and virtual multi-port drivers for Chelsio Unified Wire adapters qualify for the VMware Ready logo, signifying to customers that it has passed specific VMware testing and interoperability criteria and is ready to run their mission-critical business applications and operations," Bernie Mills, senior director, alliance programs, VMware, said in a statement.