Infonetics sees rapid expansion of next-gen WAN/Internet access

August 18, 2005 San Jose, CA -- The number of medium and large organizations in North America using high speed access for metro and WAN services will grow from 15% and 63%, respectively, in 2004, to 50% and 83% in 2009, according to a forecast in the latest study by Infonetics Research, titled "User Plans for High Speed Access, North America 2005."

According to the study, the trend toward strong growth is being driven by unfaltering increases in the use of bandwidth, by new applications (especially video), and by decreasing costs per bit for services offered by service providers.

An even more interesting phenomenon for metro and WAN services, according to the study, is the current migration away from traditional high speed access methods like frame relay, ATM, and private line, toward "next gen access" methods such as Ethernet, SONET, WDM, DSL, and PON.

"Organizations are bumping up against the capacity limits of legacy frame relay and private line networks, causing them to seek higher bandwidth, and next gen access options like Ethernet and optical networks are an attractive alternative," explains Michael Howard, principal analyst at Infonetics Research. "Many companies are lessening their dependence on traditional access and increasing their use of next gen access. They're looking at access services more as a commodity now, so higher bandwidth at lower cost-per-bit services are gaining in popularity."

Highlights of the study include:

* Half of respondents plan to significantly increase their access bandwidth for metro or WAN services by 2007.

* Nearly 3/4 of respondents are using next gen access for metro or WAN services now, or plan to by 2007.

* Network reliability is the leading criterion for choosing a service provider for next gen access; lack of it is also the top reason cited by customers for switching providers.