The global carrier Ethernet equipment market will reach $32.0 billion for 2011, up 15.7% over last year, following a 30.5% hike in 2010, according to a new Carrier Ethernet report from Infonetics Research. The market is now forecast to reach $40.2 billion by 2015.
"The carrier Ethernet equipment market continues to grow strongly, so much so that we've increased our long-term forecast from $37.5 billion to $40.2 billion by 2015. Some market segments are growing faster while others are slowing faster than we originally anticipated. The largest downward changes are in the Ethernet microwave and VDSL equipment segments, and the largest upward change is in the hot carrier Ethernet switch segment," explains Michael Howard, principal analyst for carrier networks and co-founder of Infonetics Research.
Some highlights from the report:
- Service provider investment in carrier Ethernet equipment continues to outpace overall telecom capex, which Infonetics expects to be up 6% in 2011
- The carrier Ethernet equipment market is being driven chiefly by the move to packet-based IP next-generation networks and growing consumer, business, and mobile backhaul traffic, particularly video traffic
- The carrier move to packet depends heavily on IP, MPLS, and Ethernet, as operators gradually employ the use of Ethernet transport instead of SONET/SDH
- Mobile backhaul continues to be a particular growth area for carrier Ethernet, with IP/Ethernet equipment expected to make up 95% of all mobile backhaul spending by 2015
- The largest carrier Ethernet investments are in routers, carrier Ethernet switches (CES), and optical gear, which together make up more than two-thirds of the total carrier Ethernet market
- Cisco leads the carrier Ethernet switch market with 45% of global revenue, with no close competitors
- ADVA and Ciena lead the fast-growing global Ethernet access device (EAD) market.
http://www.infonetics.com
