Total US Ethernet revenue will increase from $3.4bn in 2010 to $8.2bn in 2015, due to increasing adoption rates for Ethernet services fuelled by superior cost effectiveness, high-bandwidth scalability, ease of implementation, and overall flexibility, according to new research from International Data Corporation (IDC).
The IDC research also revealed that datacentre connectivity, disaster recovery/business continuity, and data storage replication are the three primary applications driving adoption of Ethernet.
Enterprise Telecom research manager Nav Chander said enterprises are increasingly utilising Ethernet services for domestic and international WAN networking.
"The ability to efficiently transport multiple types of traffic — including voice and video, as well as non-IP-based traffic and storage traffic — is a key differentiator for Ethernet services within the enterprise," Chander said.
Growth of Ethernet access as an alternative to leased lines for access to other services, such as to the Internet or IP VPNs; significantly less expensive than private line or packet services; and lower equipment costs are also contributing to demand.
The research found that E-Line services make up slightly more than half of the Ethernet services revenue at present, and more medium-sized enterprises are also adopting Ethernet as they migrate to VoIP, employ storage networking, and access cloud-based services.
The report said that implementation of hybrid Ethernet and IP VPN networks are a growing trend among enterprises, and added that Ethernet access market will maintain growth rates above 20% during the forecast period.
