NOVEMBER 13, 2007 -- A new report from market research firm Infonetics Research (search for Infonetics Research) says the 10-Gigabit Ethernet (search for 10-GbE) market is big and growing fast, with the number of ports shipping on enterprise and service provider equipment jumping from more than 300,000 in 2006 to over 3 million in 2010.
According to the report, "10-Gigabit Ethernet Market Outlook," 10-GbE ports
are most commonly deployed on Ethernet switches today. This trend will change over the coming years, say analysts, because 10-GbE technology will be increasingly used in other platforms, including IP edge routers and optical equipment.
"Bandwidth-hungry applications, backup, and archiving are the chief drivers behind enterprise traffic growth, and our conversations with buyers show they will continue building out their networks via 10-G Ethernet to accommodate these new traffic patterns," notes Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise voice and data at Infonetics Research. "This means the enterprise 10-GbE market will experience sustained and steady growth over the coming years, especially once low-priced copper alternatives
hit the market, for which some buyers have been holding out," he says.
"On the service provider side, 10G Ethernet solves two problems," adds Michael Howard, principal analyst and co-founder of Infonetics, who contributed to the report. "It lowers their cost of operations and accommodates the increasing need for capacity on their networks. The primary driver for 10 GbE for carriers is the need to provide ever-
increasing network capacities for bandwidth-hungry applications, particularly video, to growing numbers of users, while keeping network expenditures under control. These trends favor the use of Ethernet technology, which typically has lower price points than
other high-bandwidth equipment," he explains.
Infonetics' 10GE report provides worldwide and regional market size and forecasts from 2006 to 2010 for 10-GbE ports and revenue for enterprise Ethernet switches, routers, and application switches, as well as service provider routers, carrier Ethernet switches (CES),
optical gear (WDM and SONET/SDH), PON OLTs, and CMTSs. The report does not track non-network equipment that use 10GE interfaces, such as servers, blade servers, and NICs.
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