CEAP Market On Pace To Reach $1.7 Billion By 2013: Heavy Reading

Worldwide sales of carrier Ethernet access platforms rose about 17 percent year-over-year to $935 million in the rolling four-quarter period ending in 2Q09, 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 . CEAP platforms include Ethernet-over-fibre demarcation platforms and access switches, Ethernet-over-bonded copper pair (G.shdsl and MIMO on DMT) solutions, and Ethernet-over-TDM access circuit products.

“All three of the CEAP product categories examined by Heavy Reading posted sequential growth in 2Q09, in contrast to the previous quarter when only the Ethernet-over-bonded copper pair sub-segment grew,” said Stan Hubbard, senior analyst at Heavy Reading and author of the CEAP Tracker. “Ethernet-over-fibre access platform sales appeared to grow most rapidly in 2Q09 and were up nearly 14 percent quarter-over-quarter as the top five suppliers in this category all appeared to grow revenues above 1Q09 numbers.”

Heavy Reading projects that the global CEAP market will increase at a combined annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.5 percent between 2008 and 2013, reaching nearly $1.73 billion at the end of this period. Each of the three CEAP sub-segments is expected to have a double-digit CAGR.

Hubbard said, “We expect the CEAP market to continue to hold up relatively well even in the midst of economic trouble because of the performance/ price advantage that carrier Ethernet holds over legacy access technologies and because CEAP platforms are being deployed by hundreds of operators and other entities worldwide to support several of the fastest growing telecom services and applications. These include Ethernet business services, consumer triple-play/ IPTV/ VoD services, and mobile backhaul applications.”

Heavy Reading estimates Huawei led the Ethernet-over-fibre access platform market segment with a 14 percent share in 2Q09. Telco Systems, Cisco, ADVA, and MRV rounded out the top five Ethernet-over-fibre access platform vendors. Ciena posted the largest share gain among established suppliers of Ethernet-over-fibre access products in 2Q09.