10-Gigabit networking products to generate $570 mln in 2005

In 2004, the 10-Gigabit networking market finally took off, as Cisco, Extreme, Foundry, Force10, InfiniCon, Voltaire, Topspin, and many others have begun to promote 10-Gbps connectivity. According to CIR, in this new environment, the market for 10-Gigabit ports will take a quantum leap over the next five years. During 2005, CIR expects the market to generate approximately $570 mln. This will grow rapidly, reaching $3.3 bln by 2009.CIR sees much of this growth coming from 10-Gigabit Ethernet, which will account for 67% of the 10G market in 2005 but almost 80% of the market in 2009. Of particular interest is the rise of short-reach 10G interfaces based on copper. These represent less than 1% of the 10-Gigabit Ethernet market at present, but are expected to account for almost 25% of the market by 2009.The rise of 10-Gigabit Ethernet is being driven by a surge in demand from corporations, research labs and governments. With OC-192 router ports now priced at 50 times that of the average 10-Gigabit Ethernet port, no one is going to choose SONET/SDH over 10-Gigabit Ethernet. However, in spite of all the multi-service hype, service providers are sticking with SONET/SDH for MAN and WAN transport over more than 10 km, and the market for OC-192/STM-64 ports will continue to grow quite smoothly and reach more than $460 mln in 2009.