Networking vendors have a lot on their plate. They need to innovate in areas like automation, AIOps,零信任网络访问（ZTNA），安全访问服务边缘（SASE），可见性和多云管理。
They must respond to customer preferences for subscription models andnetwork as-a-service (NaaS)offerings. In a recent survey, IDC reported that 61% of organizations worldwide were interested in shifting to consumption-based models for IT investments rather than capital intensive purchases.
At the same time, chip shortages and供应链问题证明具有挑战性。当企业从大流行中反弹，并将目光投向数据中心现代化和数字化转型时，订单正在飙升。不幸的是，网络供应商在填写这些订单方面遇到困难backlogs are reaching historic levels。
The leading companies are the ones best able to maneuver around supply chain problems, tackle ballooning order backlogs, generate new revenue and continue to innovate.
Here is our list of the 10 most powerful networking vendors; not evaluated by size, but by their impact on the market and their forward momentum. In other words, there is some subjectivity associated with this list.
1. Cisco: Continues to lead the way
Why they’re here:Cisco has staked out a leadership position in a broad range of networking and security areas. Cisco’s ethernet switch revenues rose 3.8% in the first quarter of 2022, giving it a commanding 45.4% market share, according to IDC. Meanwhile, Cisco’s combined service provider and enterprise router revenue rose 12% for the full year to stand at 34.6%. The Dell’Oro Group crowned Cisco as the leader in SASE in 2021, with 19% market share. And Gartner cited Cisco as a leader in wired and wireless infrastructure, noting that Cisco is investing heavily in both on-prem and cloud-based management powered by AI/ML.
Power Moves: Bought Opsani, a leader in AIOps and observability. Opsani will be folded intoCisco’s AppDynamicsapplication management platform.
通过数字: $51.6B: Cisco’s annual revenue for fiscal 2022, a 3% increase over the previous year.
Outlook:思科有纪录的积压由于芯片短缺和供应链中的其他扭结，它正在努力填补。一方面，这是一个问题。另一方面，这是一个很好的问题。思科预测明年的销售增长范围为4％至6％。首席执行官查克·罗宾斯（Chuck Robbins）说：“目前，技术过渡的同时发生比我20年来所见。长期大趋势，例如混合云，混合工作，安全性，物联网, 400Gbps ethernet and beyond,5G和Wi-Fi 6，以及朝着申请可观察性的转变可能会为我们的成长提供逆风。”
2. Broadcom: VMware acquisition could enable full-stack offering
Why they’re here: Chip maker Broadcom shook up the networking world with itsproposed $61 billion acquisition of VMware。在2018年购买网络管理领导者CA Technologies和2019年安全供应商Symantec之后，Broadcom将拥有强大的软件资产组合。关于Broadcom的意图肯定有问题；正如一位分析师直言不讳地说：“ Broadcom Milk Vmware会干燥还是成为一家完整的堆栈公司？”无论它如何发挥作用，所有人的目光都会在Broadcom上。
Power Moves：工程即将购买虚拟化先驱VMware（在戴尔（Dell）的一部分之后，刚刚作为一家独立公司脱颖而出。)
通过数字: $8.5B: Broadcom says it plans to increase VMware’s profitability from $4.7 billion to $8.5 billion within the first three years of closing the deal.
Outlook:Broadcom非常了解其作为经营一艘财政船的公司的声誉。在Symantec和CA的情况下，Broadcom削减了费用，将人们放下并专注于底线。Broadcom首席执行官Hock Tan表示，Broadcom将以不同的方式对待VMware。VMware将成为Broadcom内新软件部门的核心，该部门将包括CA和Symantec。Tan说：“通过将像VMware这样的标志性先驱进入Broadcom家族，我们将能够重新想象我们可以向客户交付的东西。”分析该交易的专家预测，Broadcom将减少销售和营销等领域的VMware支出，试图提高现有客户的经常收入，将研发限制为最有利可图的产品线，并可能会提高价格，以达到雄心勃勃的盈利能力目标。
3. Arista Networks: Records first $1B quarter
Why they’re here:Surging Arista has hit a couple of major milestones: It reported its first $1 billion quarter and its ethernet switch revenue hit 10% market share on 55% growth, according to second quarter 2022 results from IDC。该公司根据Gartner对有线和无线基础架构供应商的最新评估，根据其脊柱叶交换机和由CloudVision Management平台管理的无线访问点的最新评估，该评估具有自动化和高级AI/ML功能。
Power Moves:Bought Pluribus Networks, whose Unified Cloud Fabric enables customers to manage networking and security across multiple clouds.
By the Numbers:48.7%: Arista’s revenue increase in the second quarter of 2022, compared to the same period in 2021.
Outlook:Despite supply chain challenges, Arista is thriving with its emphasis on cloud networking. It is also trying to get ahead of the curve when it comes to the integration of networking and security. For example, Arista is embedding network detection and response (NDR) security software into its 720XP series switches to provide AI-driven threat protection across campus networks. Analyst Zeus Kerravala says network/security integration is the wave of the future and he credits Arista for catching it early.
4. Palo Alto Networks: Cloud strategy paying off
Why they’re here：当Nikesh Arora在2018年接任首席执行官时，下一代防火墙先驱Palo Alto Networks落后于Sase，Sase，Cloud Security，扩展检测和响应（XDR）和SOC Automation等领域。帕洛阿尔托（Palo Alto）在Prisma Cloud Banner下的所有类别中都确立了十二次收购和3.5亿美元的收购和3.5亿美元的收购。福雷斯特（Forrester）将帕洛·阿尔托（Palo Alto）任命为事件响应服务类别的出色表现，云工作负载安全性的领导者以及零信任网络访问的领导者。帕洛阿尔托还被列为加特纳的魔法象限的领导者网络防火墙和WAN edge infrastructure.
By the Numbers: $5.5B: Fiscal year 2022 revenue grew 29% year over year to reach $5.5 billion.
Power Moves: Arora says, “If you look at it historically, until about three years ago, we didn’t have a SASE; we couldn’t actually go head-to-head with the industry leader. What has happened in the last 1.5 years or two? We’ve become a force to reckon with.”
Outlook：帕洛阿尔托（Palo Alto）对云安全性，云工程负载保护和多云的赌注一直有效。Palo Alto网络继续将其安全功能扩展到新领域。通过提供安全评估和执行功能的产品，进入DevOps领域。疯狂的钱主持人吉姆·克莱默（Jim Cramer）最近说，帕洛·阿尔托（Palo Alto）在首席执行官尼克什·阿罗拉（Nikesh Arora）从成为防火墙公司到成为云端和混合云的安全性游戏之后。
5. HPE-Aruba: Leading the way in NaaS
Why they’re here:Combine Aruba’s WLAN gear, HPE’s networking portfolio,SD-WANfrom its acquisition of Silver Peak, and NaaS offerings through HPE’s GreenLake service, then stir the pot with a new management team, and you have a recipe for success. Gartner has named HPE-Aruba a leader in its Magic Quadrant for both WAN edge infrastructure and SD-WAN. IDC identifies four “Leaders” in SD-WAN: Cisco, Fortinet, HPE-Aruba and VMware.
Power Moves：在去年Aruba创始人兼首席执行官Keertie Melkote和CTO PARTHA NARASIMHAN离开之后，HPE命名了行业资深人士Phil Mottram领导Aruba子公司，并选择了David Hughes，后者以CTO为CTO，在Silver Peak收购中出现了大卫·休斯（David Hughes）。
By the Numbers：30.7％：HPE-Aruba的WLAN收入在2022年第一季度增长了30.7％，使该公司获得了16.5％的市场份额。
Outlook: After attending the company’s latest user conference, analyst Kerravala reported, “What I found was that the company was better aligned with parent company HPE. Aruba makes great products and has been one of the best managed network vendors – it made sense to leave it as its own entity, post-acquisition. Now that HPE and Aruba products have come together, it’s clearly time for HPE to have a larger influence.” Analyst Will Townsend of Moor Insights says that he is impressed with the recent announcement of eight purpose-built NaaS offerings, including wired access, SD-Branch, indoor wireless and wired core. He adds, “HPE continues to lead the pack in IT consumption services from my perspective.”
6. Fortinet: Joins the billion-dollar club
Why they’re here:With its in-house product-development prowess, Fortinet has built out an integrated platform of security and networking gear. Fortinet is a leader in Gartner’s latest rankings for SD-WAN vendors, as well as network firewalls and WAN-edge infrastructure. Plus, it’s ranked as a visionary in enterprise wired and wireless LAN infrastructure. Gartner lists Fortinet as one of the top five global Zero Trust vendors in terms of market share and has “the fastest growing revenue of any vendor.”
动力移动：Sponsored a PGA golf tournament: The Fortinet Championship was played in September on a golf course in Napa Valley.
By the Numbers: Fortinet reported its first billion-dollar quarter in the second quarter of 2022, with revenue hitting $1.04B, up 29% year-over-year. To give some idea of Fortinet’s momentum, annual revenue went from $2.16B in 2019 to $2.6B in 2020 (up 20%) to $3.3B (up $29%) in 2021. And it’s on pace for $4B this year.
Outlook:Under the steady leadership of the Xie brothers (Ken and Michael), Fortinet has developed its Security MESH platform of products that share a single operating system (FortiOS) and can be centrally managed. For example, SD-WAN for connectivity, ZTNA for secure access, and enterprise-grade security for traffic inspection and protection, can be configured, orchestrated, and managed using a centralized console. Chairman and CEO Ken Xie says, “Fortinet’s market share gains are being driven by the convergence of networking and security and an accelerating focus on vendor consolidation.”
7.极限网络：首次达到$ 1B的年收入
Why they’re here: Extreme is hot. A leader in Gartner’s latest analysis of wired and wireless LAN infrastructure, Extreme gets high marks for its cloud-based management capabilities (ExtremeCloud IQ) and its CoPilot automation platform. Extreme continues to deliver new products, including wired and wireless “universal” switches, its first SD-WAN offering, and networking digital-twin technology that enables customers to test new configurations prior to deployment. ESG analyst Bob Laliberte says, “Those are things that will make people sit up and take more notice of Extreme, now that they’ve got that full, unified, end-to-end environment.”
Power Moves：极端完成的Wi-Fi 6部署为美国职棒大联盟队的部署，包括波士顿红袜队，芝加哥白袜队，底特律老虎队，堪萨斯城皇家队，纽约大都会大都会队，匹兹堡海盗和西雅图水手队。
通过数字: $1.1B: Extreme reported fiscal 2022 revenue of $1.1 billion, up 10% from 2021. The company also reported a record product backlog of more than $500 million.
Outlook:President and CEO Ed Meyercord offers a bullish assessment on the future: “We continue to take market share based on our industry-leading cloud innovation with new AIOps and ExtremeCloud SD-WAN solutions that greatly simplify network management for customers. Extreme predicts that as the supply chain woes ease up and the company is able to tackle that backlog, revenue is expected to rise between 10-15%over the 12 months from June 30, 2022 to June 30, 2023.
8.杜松网络：“雾化”支付明确的股息
Why they’re here:Juniper’s 2019 acquisition of Mist Systems is breathing new life into the company. Juniper says its portfolio of wired access, wireless access, and SD-WAN products managed via Mist AI grew more than 60% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2022. Juniper was named a leader in Gartner’s ranking of wired and wireless LAN infrastructure vendors. Gartner says Juniper is differentiating itself throughAI, ML, automation, and natural-language AIOps through Marvis, its virtual network assistant.
动力移动：Acquired WiteSand, a leader in cloud-native, Zero Trust Network Access Control (NAC).
通过数字: 117%: Juniper’s year-over-year growth in wireless LAN, according to a report from the 650 Group published in the first quarter of 2022.