Hitachi Cable, Ltd. has announced that during the second quarter of 2008 (April - June) it earned the top market share in the Japanese Layer2 switch market for the second consecutive quarter, after earning the top share in the first quarter of 2008 (January - March) as well, according to a research report*1 from Gartner Japan Ltd. (headquarters: Meguro-ku, Tokyo; President: Nobuhiko Hidaka), a leading market-research firm (hereinafter referred to as "Gartner") in the information technology market.

Since 2003, Hitachi Cable has developed a series of Ethernet switches under its own Apresia brand*2 *3, achieving continued growth in sales for use in telecommunications carriers' wide-area Ethernet networks and in the LAN networks of enterprise customers. As a result, its flexible development of features suited to the characteristics of telecommunications networks in Japan and the high level of reliability achieved by its products enabled Hitachi Cable to earn a large market share in the Ethernet-switch market in Japan as a large number of customers have adopted its products.

Gartner conducts market research on the Japanese Ethernet switch market each quarter. The data collected in this research is grouped into eight categories: fixed switches, chassis switches, 100-megabit Ethernet switches, gigabit Ethernet switches, 10-gigabit Ethernet switches, Layer2 switches, Layer3 switches, and the switch market overall.

This data shows that the size of the Layer2 switch market in the second quarter of 2008 is estimated at approximately 14.9 billion yen. Hitachi Cable has achieved the top market share in this category, at 21.8 percent. In the first quarter of 2008 as well, Hitachi Cable had the top market share (at 22.7%), making this the second consecutive quarter in which it had the top share. In addition, Hitachi Cable was the only Japanese manufacturer with the top market share in any of the eight categories covered in this research report.

In the future as well, Hitachi Cable will work to achieve even greater growth in its share of the Ethernet switch market for telecommunications carriers and the enterprise, by utilizing Apresia partner sales channels, as well as enhancing its lineup of Apresia products.

*1	Source: Gartner, 2Q 2008 Japanese Ethernet Switch Market (End-User Sales-Amount Basis) (September 2008), GJ08510
*2	Ethernet is a product name of Xerox Corp. Ethernet is a registered trademark of Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. in Japan.
*3	Apresia is a registered trademark of Hitachi Cable, Ltd. in Japan.