* Vertical Systems Group report on Business Ethernet services
Last time, we looked at equipment market data from the Dell’Oro Group. In keeping with that theme, this time let’s look at some data on another aspect of the industry: Business Ethernet Services.
It seems these services are really ramping up, underscoring the fact that Ethernet is not just for LANs anymore. Vertical Systems Group recently reported that enterprise customer demand for Business Ethernet Services picked up in the second half of 2006, and competition among the providers got more intense.
Midsized and regional service providers gained market share, offering a range of speeds of services, including sub-10Mbps services. The research firm sees the number of providers in this area expanding and says it “signals a key inflection in Business Ethernet market development.”
AT&T leads the market – as measured by number of ports – with 13.6% of the market, but that’s a pretty big drop from its 16.2% share at the middle of last year. That doesn’t include BellSouth, though. BellSouth had an 8.5% share of ports at the end of December, when its acquisition by AT&T was completed, Vertical Systems Group says.
Verizon Business is second, with 12.2% of ports in the United States, down from 13.5% at mid-year 2006. At third is Time Warner Telecom at 10.7%, just slightly down from its 10.9% share in mid-2006.
Other major service providers with more than 5% of U.S. retail ports are Qwest, Cogent, Yipes and Level 3. Rounding out the list with 26.2% of ports are a few dozen other players that are making things interesting.
