11/19/2007 -- There's gold in 10GB Ethernet. According to new research from market-watcher Infonetics, the 10GB Ethernet (10GE) segment is shaping up to be a bona-fide juggernaut, thanks to a projected explosion in 10GE ports from 2006 through 2010. Over that period, according to Infonetics, the number of 10GE ports should jump from more than 300,000 last year to over 3 million in 2010.

That's the upshot of Infonetics' latest market survey, "10 Gigabit Ethernet Market Outlook," which tracks 10GE ports and revenue for telecom and datacom gear.

Today, according to the market watchers, 10GE ports are most commonly deployed on Ethernet switches. Look for that trend to change over time, largely because 10GE technology will be increasingly used in other platforms, including IP edge routers and optical equipment.

"Bandwidth-hungry applications, backup and archiving are the chief drivers behind enterprise traffic growth, and our conversations with buyers show they will continue building out their networks via [10GE] to accommodate these new traffic patterns," said Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise voice and data with Infonetics, in a statement. "This means the enterprise 10GE market will experience sustained and steady growth over the coming years, especially once low-priced copper alternatives hit the market, for which some buyers have been holding out."

What's to account for the surge in 10GE port shipments? For one thing, Infonetics said, service providers like it because it provides a cost-effective "two-fer" of sorts.

"On the service provider side, [10GE] solves two problems: It lowers their cost of operations and accommodates the increasing need for capacity on their networks," said Infonetics principal analyst and co-founder Michael Howard in a prepared release.

In this respect, Howard cited a list of the usual bandwidth-hungry suspects -- especially video -- as key technology drivers.

"The primary driver for 10GE for carriers is the need to provide ever-increasing network capacities for bandwidth hungry applications, particularly video, to growing numbers of users, while keeping network expenditures under control," Howard said. "These trends favor the use of Ethernet technology, which typically has lower price points than other high-bandwidth equipment." --Stephen Swoyer