Optical Ethernet Set To Boom Through 2011: Report

LONDON — The optical Ethernet components market is set to grow to $2.7 billion in annual revenues, according to a report from market research firm Communications ndustry Researchers Inc, (Charlottesville, Virgina). Copper-based Ethernet transceivers will achieve revenues of $4.7 billion in the same time period.

According to the study, 2008 appears to be a breakout year for the 10GigE market due in part to the burgeoning use of 10-Gbit per second high-end servers, many of which are currently forced to use multiple 1-Gbit per second links. With prices falling for 10-Gbit per second laser components and the arrival of low-cost standardized copper-based 10-Gbit per second connections, 10GigE is becoming an economically viable option for both server and inter-switch links in data centers and corporate networks, the market researcher claimed.

Meanwhile, Gigabit Ethernet is now the Ethernet-of-choice for almost every business-class computer, which in turn will force the issue of 10GigE deployments even further.