The global carrier Ethernet market reached $21.6 billion (€16.6 million) in 2009, and is on pace to grow to over $32 billion in 2014, according to Infonetics research.
Spending on carrier Ethernet equipment is growing significantly faster than overall telecom capex, Infonetics analyst Michael Howard said – the market was one of the few which defied the global economic downturn.
“Carrier Ethernet technologies and products are a permanent, ingrained, inseparable, and growing part of service provider networks,” Howard said. “Ethernet products are used in nearly every part of service provider networks.”
Cisco is maintaining its dominance in the Ethernet switch, and IP core and edge router markets.
The largest segments of the market are routers, carrier Ethernet switches and optical gear, but the fastest growing segment of the market is currently Ethernet microwave.
Howard said the biggest driver of the market is the move to all-IP next-generation networks, itself spurred on by the rise in traffic from all segments of the CSP market.