Arista Networks’ third-quarter financial results beat Wall Street estimates as CEO Jayshree Ullal forecast even higher Q4 revenue and promised to “disrupt the campus and router incumbency of the last few decades in the next few years.”
Cisco has long dominated the campus networking market, and Arista’s been gunning for its rival since it entered campus switching a year ago.
Also on the Q3 2020 call with investors, Ullal doubled down on Arista’s goal to hit $200 million in campus networking revenue by the end of 2021. Arista reached its $100 million target during the second quarter.
“We do expect our campus portfolio to double by the end of 2021 as we invest in both engineering and go-to-market model,” Ullal said on today’s call during her prepared remarks. She pointed to a new line of campus switches announced today as an example of Arista’s growing prowess in campus networking.
“We like markets that are ripe for real innovation, and the campus networking market is a prime example of that,” said Andreas Bechtolsheim, Arista chief development officer and co-founder, on the Q3 call.
Arista Q3 ResultsDuring the third quarter, Arista’s revenue his $605.4 million. It increased 12% sequentially, but decreased 7.5% from the third quarter of 2019. Arista’s earnings of $2.42 per share beat analysts’ expectations of $2.23 per share, and the company’s stock price gained more than 7% after hours.
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, Arista expects revenue between $615 million and $635 million.
Subscription-Based Software PushWhile Arista’s core cloud and data center networking products still comprise its largest business segment, Ullal also touted her company’s network software and services business. This includes its new CloudVision platform as well as technology it acquired from SDN pioneer Big Switch Networks and network detection and response startup Awake Security.
While its software and services revenue declined slightly — it represented about 22% of Arista’s total revenue in Q2 compared to 21% in Q3, Ullal said Big Switch and Awake, which closed last month, will advance Arista’s push into subscription-based software.
“This product line is typically multi-year contracts,” she said. “Customers are driving mandates for network automation, monitoring, and visibility across the data set. We believe the recent acquisition of Awake Security is a strategic contributor that transforms the silo aspects of security into a seamless, secure network.”