Developing a Successful Carrier Ethernet Service Portfolio

SUMMARY

This report takes an in-depth look at the emerging range of carrier Ethernet services. It summarises the services being standardised in the Metro Ethernet Forum and explains what they will offer to the customer in terms of performance and quality guarantees. It also examines end users' reasons for selecting Ethernet in preference to other services offered by the carriers. The report recommends marketing priorities for service providers (incumbents, global carriers, national data operators, LLUB operators, new-entrant Ethernet carriers and systems integrators) currently developing their Ethernet service portfolios.

This report forecasts retail spend on carrier Ethernet services to 2010, resulting in over 3000 data points. The data annex shows spend by a number of categories, including:

• size of site: large (500+ employees), corporate small (0- 499 employees) or SME (0- 499 employees)
• country/region: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, UK and Western Europe
• architecture: point to point E-line, multi-point to multi-point E-LAN
• quality level: best effort, uncontended and with QoS guarantees
• service type: private circuit, IP VPN access, L2 VPN access and Internet access.

Developing a Successful Carrier Ethernet Service Portfolio answers your key questions:

• How big is the market for carrier Ethernet services?
• Which market segments are most important?
• What types of carrier Ethernet services are a priority for service portfolios?
• Should the portfolio include Ethernet services with guaranteed QoS?
• What are competitors likely to do with carrier Ethernet?
• When are the relevant standards and equipment going to be ready?
• How quickly is this market going to take off?

Who should read this report

• Incumbent operators
• National data operators
• Global data operators
• Pan-European data operators
• Systems integrators
• Virtual network operators

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Summary

1. Ethernet is the big growth area in fixed corporate networks

2. Operators have to deliver more bandwidth as well as quality guarantees

• 2.1 Access technologies vary in terms of the cost-effectiveness of the bandwidth upgrades they deliver
• 2.2 Bandwidth needs to be accompanied by QoS guarantees

3. Ethernet offers must be tailored to specific needs of customers

• 3.1 Some customers want maximum bandwidth for a given price
• 3.2 Some customers prioritise flexible and easy-to-configure data networking between sites
• 3.3 Customers with security concerns want to retain control of the IP layer when upgrading VPN bandwidth

4. Carriers of different types should prioritise different Ethernet services

• 4.1 Spend on Ethernet in Western Europe will exceed EUR7 billion by 2010, representing 33% of the total business data market
• 4.2 Incumbents should position their Ethernet services aggressively to secure market share
• 4.3 Global network operators are well placed to address the E-LAN and QoS markets
• 4.4 National data operators can offer E-LAN and QoS to corporate small sites
• 4.5 LLUB operators can tap the lucrative SME market
• 4.6 SIs should provide high-quality Ethernet to corporate customers
• 4.7 New-entrant Ethernet carriers must stay ahead of the opposition with their quality and pricing

List of Figures and Tables

• Figure 0.1: Spend on MEF-defined services in Western Europe, 2005- 10
• Table 1.1: Types of Ethernet service available
• Table 2.1: Services defined by the MEF
• Figure 4.1: Spend on MEF-defined services in Western Europe, 2005- 10
• Figure 4.2: Spend on Ethernet in Western Europe by customer type and size of site, 2005- 10
• Figure 4.3: Marketing priorities recommended for incumbent operators
• Figure 4.4: Marketing priorities recommended for global network operators
• Figure 4.5: Marketing priorities recommended for national data operators
• Figure 4.6: Marketing priorities recommended for LLUB operators
• Figure 4.7: Marketing priorities recommended for SIs
• Figure 4.8: Marketing priorities recommended for new-entrant Ethernet carriers