10/17/2005 -- If optimism is your thing, there’s a lot to like in recent market research from Infonetics, which says that worldwide metro Ethernet equipment revenue will more than double between 2004 and 2008, growing to $7.6 billion -- while at the same time accounting for almost $26 billion in revenue over a five-year period.

But that’s nothing. If Infonetics is to be believed, metro Ethernet port shipments will grow even faster, more than quadrupling over the same period. That’s port population growth of Malthusian dimensions. Rampant metro Ethernet demand is good news for Cisco, which helped account for more than half of worldwide revenues, Infonetics researchers say.

"We added carrier Ethernet switches and routers market share to our report this go-round, and not surprisingly, Cisco led in 2004 with almost half the worldwide revenue, followed by Riverstone and Alcatel," said Michael Howard, a principal analyst with Infonetics, in a statement.

There’s good news a-go-go for service providers, too. Infonetics expects that the surge in metro Ethernet equipment sales will help trigger a similar scend in the Ethernet services market, which is projected to jump by 276 percent between 2005 and 2009, cresting at $22.2 billion. "We also created a new category, Ethernet Access Devices (EADs), to track products that solve problems associated with delivering Ethernet over various types of copper and fiber connections," Howard said. "EADs are an important and fast-growing segment of the metro Ethernet market, growing 2,353 percent between 2004 and 2008, from $20 million $492 million."

Elsewhere, Infonetics says worldwide carrier Ethernet switch and router revenues reached $183 million last year. They’re expected to grow into a $2.6 billion market by 2008. At that time, Infonetics says, worldwide carrier Ethernet switch and router revenues will account for more than one-third (34 percent) of the metro Ethernet equipment market. -Stephen Swoyer