This IDC study provides Western European LAN switch port shipment and revenue data for the full year 2005 and compares it with data for 2004. Port shipment and revenue shares are provided for LAN switches by country and vendor for 2005. The switching market is analyzed for three technologies, OSI layers (Layers 2, 3, and 4-7), and three form factors.

"The LAN switch market continued to grow in terms of shipments and revenues in 2005. This growth is fueled by the transition from Fast Ethernet to Gigabit Ethernet, and the fact that organizations are starting to replace the LAN switches that they bought on a large scale in 1999 and 2000," said Peter Hulleman, research manager, IDC's European Telecommunications and Networking team.