400G Conversation Dominates Arista Networks Q3 2018 Earnings Call

Arista Networks reported another strong financial quarter today. For its third quarter that ended Sept. 30, the company reported revenue of $563.3 million, an increase of 8.4 percent sequentially and an increase of 28.7 percent year over year. Its Non-GAAP net income of $171.3 million, or $2.11 per diluted share, compared to non-GAAP net income of $128.2 million, or $1.62 per diluted share, in the third quarter of 2017. One of the highlights of Arista’s third quarter was the announcement of a new switching line that supports 400 gigabit Ethernet. Andreas Bechtolsheim, Arista’s chairman and chief development officer, said on today’s earnings call that “400 gig Ethernet is the next step in the delivery of Ethernet,” and the technology showcases Arista’s ability to bring new switch silicon to market that is fully supported with the company’s EOS software. However, he warned that the uptake of 400G will take some time. “We do expect to see a lot of 400 gig qualification activity in the first half of 2019,” Bechtolsheim said. “The 400G ramp in 2019 is also constrained by the volume of 400 gig optics.” Just this week Cisco announced its entrance into 400G, and in July Juniper announced its entrance. “Time will tell what the real capabilities of these products are,” said Arista’s CEO Jayshree Ullal. She said it’s important to combine the “right silicon with the right operating system,” and that discontinuity of operating systems can be extremely difficult for customers. Bechtolsheim added, “400G demand is coming from cloud, and they prefer to go with trusted solutions.” He predicted the crossover in desired bandwidth between 100G and 400G will take hold in 2021.