Big bandwidth coming on strong

The worldwide market for 10Gbps network gear will reach $9.5 billion this year, and the market for 40Gbps network gear is growing quickly, according to a new report from Infonetics Research.

Apparently, bandwidth is recession-proof. Infonetics insists that the current economic turmoil won't hurt the market for 10G. Switch ports of 10G Ethernet grew 140% in 2007, and Infonetics is predicting healthy growth for years to come. The research firm also notes that the average revenue per port of 10G Ethernet is 10 times higher on service provider equipment than on enterprise equipment. The findings reinforce what other researchers are saying.

Meanwhile, Infonetics said in a statement that service providers "are expecting to invest in 40G until the 100G market is up and running; some providers are hoping to skip the 40G phase altogether, but we don't see that being a viable option, as growing traffic demands are outstripping current capacities and 100G won't reach reasonable price points until about 2012 or 2013."

At that point, Infonetics projects that 100 Gigabit Ethernet will meet traffic needs for more than a decade. The research firm adds that the market for 100G will make a "small debut" in 2009, but will really start to take off in 2013.

Between 2007 and 2011, revenue from 40G equipment is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 59%. The number of ports of 10G, 40G and 100G will go from more than 1 million this year to 7.4 million in 2011, Infonetics says.

Jeff Caruso is site editor at Network World.