Jefferies: 'We're Still Impressed' With Cisco

In a report published Friday, Jefferies analyst George C. Notter maintained a Hold rating on

, with a price target of $29.50. Cisco's Nexus 9000 strategy is working well and the company ended the April quarter with 2,650 Nexus 9000 customers and 580 ACI APIC customers. "The ACI/APIC version of the 9000, in particular, is tracking ahead of their internal expectations. This is good news. As we've said previously, there's a lot at stake here for Cisco – Ethernet Switching is perhaps the largest profit pool in the company," analyst George C. Notter said. In the report Jefferies noted, "While White Box certainly remains a threat to Cisco among ICP customers, a number of ICPs are feeling the inherent difficulties associated with adopting the technology." Cisco's Data Center Switching market share has declined modestly over the past two years mainly due to the Nexus product transition and the move to higher speed interfaces (10G/40G). However, meetings with Cisco officials revealed that the company holds a strong position in the Data Center Switching market. "Large customers like the ICPs (where Cisco has lower share) moved to 10G/40G more quickly than traditional enterprises. As this trend plays out below the very high end of the market, the company should get a market share tailwind," Notter mentioned.