Arista cats hiss at Cisco, crack open the cream after bumper sales

Demand for 'programmable cloud' gear amid legal battle with Netzilla

Arista Networks has topped analyst expectations by posting a 40 per cent revenue jump in its latest quarterly returns.

The networking company said the fourth quarter results put the cap on a "spectacular" 2015 that saw revenues spike even in the midst of an ongoing legal struggle against Cisco.

"I have been pleased with the rapid acceptance by our customers of Arista's programmable cloud networking," said Arista president and CEO Jayshree Ullal.

"The inevitable shift from legacy enterprises to cloud workloads has fueled Arista's strong performance of profitable revenue growth and increasing market share."

• Fourth quarter revenues were $245.4m, up 41.5 per cent from the same quarter in 2014.
• Net income of $57.5m was up from $37.2m in the 2014 quarter.
• Non-GAAP earnings per share of 80 cents was well above analyst expectations of 61 cents, and up from 53 cents in 2014.

Full year numbers were also up significantly for Arista:

• Revenues of $837.6m represented a 43.4 per cent increase over the 2014 fiscal year.
• Net income of $121.1m was up from $86.9m last year.
• Earnings per share of $1.67 were up from $1.29 last year.

The numbers come as Arista continues to find itself in an ugly legal battle with reigning networks king Cisco, who has accused Arista and its management team of Cisco alums of patent and copyright infringement. Cisco says it wants Arista to remove the infringing products from the market.

Earlier this year, Arista hit Cisco with a counter-suit accusing the networking giant of using its dominant position in the market to muscle out competitors and scare customers away from using other services.

The US International Trade Commission is expected to issue its findings on the infringement case some time next month. ®