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Zeus Kerravala’s criticism is that Forrester’s Q3 2026 data center networking evaluation may measure NVIDIA against priorities built for broad enterprise networks rather than AI-cluster fabrics. That could help explain NVIDIA’s reported position at the bottom of the Contenders quadrant—but it does not, by itself, prove the Wave is invalid or that NVIDIA is the wrong choice for AI infrastructure.
What does “doesn’t fit the matrix” mean?
A vendor matrix is only as useful as the questions and weighting behind it. An evaluation designed to compare general-purpose data center networking may emphasize portfolio breadth, enterprise management, and support for conventional network environments. A buyer building an AI fabric may care more about moving data between large GPU clusters with the throughput, latency, topology, and operations that workload requires.
In a September 4, 2026 Network World opinion article, ZK Research founder and principal analyst Zeus Kerravala argues that evaluating an AI-factory fabric with a legacy enterprise networking matrix can produce misleading results. That is Kerravala’s interpretation of the criteria, not a neutral finding established by the scorecard materials available here.
What NVIDIA’s reported scores do—and do not—show
Kerravala reports that NVIDIA finished at the bottom of the Contenders quadrant in the Q3 2026 Forrester Wave for Data Center Networking Solutions. He says it received 1 out of 5 in Vision, Enterprise Management Types, Administrative Experience, and Switch Portfolio Scope, and 5.0 in AI Infrastructure. He also reports that AI infrastructure support accounted for 2% of the evaluation’s overall weighting.
#1 Best Overall
- GIGABIT ETHERNET PORTS: Features 5 x 1.0Gbps Ethernet ports for high-speed connectivity. Auto-negotiating ports detect the optimal speed for connected devices and work with existing Cat5e or Cat6 Ethernet cables.
- PLUG-AND-PLAY UNMANAGED NETWORK SWITCH: Simple plug-and-play setup with no software to install or configuration required.
- FLEXIBLE MOUNTING OPTIONS: Compact metal design supports desktop or wall-mount placement for versatile installation.
- SILENT & ENERGY-EFFICIENT OPERATION: Fanless design ensures silent performance, while IEEE 802.3az Energy Efficient Ethernet reduces power consumption without compromising high-speed network performance.
- REGIONAL COMPATIBILITY: Made for use in U.S. & CA only
Those figures should be treated as Kerravala’s account: the underlying Forrester report and scorecard were not available in the materials supporting these details, so the scores and weighting cannot be independently confirmed here. The figures describe reported performance against that evaluation’s criteria; they are not a standalone test of NVIDIA equipment or a universal measure of its suitability for AI clusters.
Why a broad networking evaluation may reward different strengths
Kerravala says the networking Wave emphasizes general-purpose enterprise traffic, legacy campus, small and midsize business, and enterprise LAN workloads, along with management integration. Those considerations matter to organizations that need a broad network portfolio and must operate it within established processes. They may not give as much weight to the specialized requirements of an AI fabric.
Rank #2
- 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗦𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗠𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸: 5× 10/100/1000Mbps RJ45 Ports supporting Auto Negotiation and Auto MDI/MDIX.
- 𝗚𝗶𝗴𝗮𝗯𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗘𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆: Latest innovative energy-efficient technology greatly expands your network capacity with much less power consumption and helps save money.
- 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗤𝘂𝗶𝗲𝘁: IEEE 802.3X flow control provides reliable data transfer and Fanless design ensures quiet operation.
- 𝗣𝗹𝘂𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆: Easy setup with no software installation or configuration needed.
- 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝗼𝗳𝘁𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀: Prioritize your traffic and guarantee high quality of video or voice data transmission with Port-based 802.1p/DSCP QoS and IGMP Snooping.
This is a distinction between breadth and specialization, not a simple choice between “good” and “bad” networking. An enterprise-wide assessment can be useful for comparing vendors serving varied environments. It can be a poor proxy for a narrower decision if the buyer’s priority is connecting a large AI cluster. Before using a quadrant placement to create a shortlist, check whether the evaluation’s scope and weights match the purchase in front of you.
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Forrester’s separate AI-infrastructure coverage provides useful context, but it is not evidence of the networking Wave’s criteria. In a 2024 summary, Forrester describes AI infrastructure as computer systems and cloud services intended to maximize performance across data preparation, training, and inferencing. It advises buyers to match infrastructure to the computational demands of their workloads and account for integration with existing management tools.
Rank #3
- GIGABIT ETHERNET PORTS: Features 8 x 1.0Gbps Ethernet ports for high-speed connectivity. Auto-negotiating ports detect the optimal speed for connected devices and work with existing Cat5e or Cat6 Ethernet cables.
- PLUG-AND-PLAY UNMANAGED NETWORK SWITCH: Simple plug-and-play setup with no software to install or configuration required.
- FLEXIBLE MOUNTING OPTIONS: Compact metal design supports desktop or wall-mount placement for versatile installation.
- SILENT & ENERGY-EFFICIENT OPERATION: Fanless design ensures silent performance, while IEEE 802.3az Energy Efficient Ethernet reduces power consumption without compromising high-speed network performance.
- REGIONAL COMPATIBILITY: Made for use in U.S. & CA only
Forrester’s Q4 2025 AI Infrastructure Wave announcement describes a different evaluation, covering current offering and strategy, support for training and inference, operational readiness—including deployment, observability, and lifecycle management—and alignment across silicon, software, and cloud services. Forrester’s author cautioned that this evaluation differed from the 2023 version, making year-over-year comparisons especially ill-advised. These are AI-infrastructure evaluation dimensions, not a verified account of the Q3 2026 data center networking rubric.
Forrester analysts’ commentary after GTC 2026 also characterizes NVIDIA’s approach as increasingly system-level, spanning compute architectures, server, storage and networking reference designs, AI software, and data pipelines. The analysts point to execution constraints including operational readiness, power, cooling, geopolitics, and competition from custom and sovereign silicon. This is their interpretation of GTC, not an independent product test.
Rank #4
- 【One Switch Made to Expand Network】Features 5 RJ45 ports with 10/100/1000Mbps speeds, supporting Auto-Negotiation and Auto MDI/MDIX for hassle-free setup. Ideal for expanding your network, with 1 uplink (input) port and 4 output ports to split your Ethernet connection to multiple devices.
- 【Gigabit that Saves Energy】Latest innovative energy-efficient technology greatly expands your network capacity with much less power consumption and helps save money
- 【Reliable and Quiet】IEEE 802.3X flow control provides reliable data transfer and Fanless design ensures quiet operation
- 【Plug and Play】Easy setup with no software installation or configuration needed
- 【Ethernet Splitter】Connect to your router or modem for additional wired connections (laptop, gaming console, printer, etc)
How to evaluate networking for an AI data center
Start with the workload and operating environment rather than the vendor’s quadrant position. Use the following checklist to make the comparison specific to your deployment; it combines Kerravala’s description of AI fabrics with Forrester’s separate AI-infrastructure guidance and should not be mistaken for the Wave’s official rubric.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches- Workload and topology: Define whether the fabric will support AI training, inference, or both, and map the intended cluster topology and data movement patterns.
- Network performance needs: Establish the throughput and latency requirements that matter for the workload, then assess candidate designs against those needs.
- Operational readiness: Ask how deployment, observability, lifecycle management, and day-to-day administration will work in your environment.
- Integration: Check how the networking design fits with compute, storage, software, cloud or on-premises infrastructure, and the management tools already in use.
- Deployment constraints: Account for facility readiness, power and cooling, as well as the organization’s operating model.
- Evaluation fit: Inspect the criteria and weighting behind any analyst ranking. A high score on broad enterprise management may be valuable to one buyer and less decisive to another.
When is Forrester’s data center networking matrix useful?
A criteria-based comparison is most useful when its scope resembles the environment being planned. For a general-purpose enterprise network, assess support for existing traffic and protocols, management experience, portfolio scope, deployment fit, and integration with current operations. Those are the kinds of dimensions Kerravala says the challenged evaluation emphasizes.
Best Value
- 𝗘𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝟮.𝟱 𝗚𝗯𝗽𝘀 𝗣𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿-𝗙𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: 8× 2.5-Gigabit ports unlock the highest performance of your Multi-Gig bandwidth and devices, and provide up to 40 Gbps of switching capacity.
- 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼-𝗡𝗲𝗴𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Auto-negotiation intelligently senses the link speeds and adjusts between 3-speeds (100Mb/1G/2.5G) for compatibility and optimal performance for all your devices, including 2.5G WiFi 6 AP, 2.5G NAS, 2.5G PCIe Adapter, 2.5G Server, gaming computer, 4K video, and more.
- 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗩𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗦𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘀: Built for LAN parties, home entertainment, small and home offices, and instant transfer for workstations.
- 𝗛𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗹𝗲-𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴: Instantly upgrade to 2.5 Gbps without the need to upgrade to Cat6 wiring, reducing wiring costs and hassle. *
- 𝗦𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Industry-leading fanless design ensures silent operation, ideal for any home or business.
For an AI-fabric decision, use a broader infrastructure view: workload fit, network behavior, operations and observability, integration across the stack, and deployment realities. Forrester says its Wave analyses include an interactive experience that lets clients customize a shortlist around their priorities. That flexibility can help, but it does not remove the need to verify which criteria are present and how much each one matters to the decision.
How to read the disagreement
The central issue is not whether a matrix can rank vendors, but whether its model matches the buyer’s question. Kerravala’s critique raises a legitimate fit question about applying enterprise-network criteria to an AI-networking specialist. The reported scores and 2% weighting strengthen his argument only if they accurately represent the underlying scorecard; in the absence of that scorecard, they remain attributed claims.
For buyers, the practical lesson is to map the evaluation to workload, operating environment, and management needs before treating a ranking as a shortlist. A general-purpose network comparison and an AI-infrastructure decision can overlap, but they are not interchangeable.
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