CEAP Market Poised For Growth Through 2013: Heavy Reading

Worldwide sales of copper-based carrier Ethernet access platforms rose 42 percent year-over-year to $266 million in the rolling four-quarter period ending in 1Q09, according to the new Carrier Ethernet Access Platform (CEAP) Quarterly Market Tracker service published by Heavy Reading, the market research division of TechWeb's Light Reading. Copper-based CEAP platforms include Ethernet-over-bonded copper pair (G.shdsl and MIMO on DMT) and Ethernet-over-TDM access circuit solutions.

"Many service providers, who collectively spent billions of dollars deploying carrier Ethernet/ MPLS-based network infrastructure during 2006-2008, are now increasingly shifting their attention to adding low-cost copper- and fibre-based Ethernet endpoints to their networks," said Stan Hubbard, senior analyst at Heavy Reading and author of the CEAP Quarterly Market Tracker. "In 1Q09, global E-o-bonded copper pair platform sales grew slightly quarter-over-quarter, while E-o-TDM access circuit and E-o-fiber access platform revenues dipped only modestly on a sequential basis. This stands in sharp contrast to the double-digit sequential revenue declines we saw for carrier Ethernet switches and routers that sit further back in the network."

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Heavy Reading estimates that the global market for combined E-o-bonded copper pair platform sales is likely to reach nearly $500 million by 2013. Industry feedback suggests that telecom operators are particularly attracted by the rapid return on investment offered by copper-based solutions that leverage the existing physical network infrastructure and help them better manage scarce capital resources during the economic recession. The larger Ethernet-over-fiber demarcation/access switch market also is likely to record substantial growth over the next several years, as Ethernet business services and mobile backhaul bandwidth requirements increase.