Carrier Ethernet Industry Voices

Vertical Systems Group's U.S. bi-annual Ethernet service LEADERBOARD results for 2010 reflected a growing comfort level by enterprise customers to buy Layer 2 Ethernet services for their high bandwidth applications.

Driven by growing adoption from the financial, education and state/local government segments, the Ethernet port base grew 3 percent from Vertical's previous forecast of 31 percent to 34 percent.

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Competitive Providers and Cable MSOs continue to gain port share during the first half of 2010. 

Competitive Providers and Cable MSOs gained U.S. Ethernet port share from Incumbents in the first half of 2010, continuing a trend that began in the second half of last year, according to latest Vertical Systems Group research on enterprise installations. Ethernet providers attaining a position on the Mid-2010 U.S. Business Ethernet Services Leaderboard are as follows (ranked in port share order): AT&T, Verizon, tw Telecom, Cox, Qwest, XO, Time Warner Cable, Cogent and Level 3.  Leaderboard recipients hold four percent or more of the market based on retail port installations.

"Incumbents AT&T and Verizon showed solid performance and remain at the top of the U.S. Ethernet Leaderboard, however the Competitive Provider segment generated the highest port growth during the first half of 2010," said Rick Malone, principal at Vertical Systems Group. "Our analysis shows that this is a healthy broadening of market competition, rather than an indication of trouble for Incumbents.  We're seeing more Tier 2 providers and Cable MSOs exploiting their footprints and intensifying their efforts to sell Ethernet services to enterprise customers."