7:00 AM -- Heavy Reading recently released our latest Carrier Ethernet Access Platform (CEAP) Quarterly Market Tracker, in which we provided updated market share and forecast estimates for Ethernet-over-fiber, Ethernet-over-bonded copper pair and Ethernet-over-TDM access circuit platform market segments. Our analysis indicates the global CEAP market grew about 11 percent year-over-year from $765 million in the first half of 2010 to more than $850 million in the first half of 2011, despite facing significant macro-economic headwinds. We estimate the top five CEAP vendors in 1H11 were Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. , Overture Networks Inc. , Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), Adtran Inc. (Nasdaq: ADTN) and Ciena Corp. (NYSE: CIEN), which together accounted for ~41 percent of sales during the period.

We currently estimate the CEAP market will have a CAGR of 11 percent between 2010 and 2016, reaching almost $2.95 billion at the end of this period. We expect sales to continue to hold up relatively well even in the midst of economic turmoil because of the performance/price advantages of Ethernet versus legacy technologies and because CEAPs are being deployed to support several of the fastest-growing telecom services and applications -- including Ethernet business services, Ethernet wholesale services and mobile backhaul applications.

Ethernet-over-fiber access platforms represented the fastest growing segment of the CEAP market in the second quarter of 2011. This category -- which includes intelligent demarcation products, access switches and Ethernet aggregation cards on multiservice access platforms -- grew about 14 percent year-over-year in the second quarter of 2011. Top Ethernet-over-fiber access platform providers in the quarter were Huawei, Ciena and Cisco.

Sales of Ethernet-over-bonded copper pair access platforms grew at a healthy clip both year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter. Top suppliers in this category during the second quarter of 2011 were Overture, Actelis Networks Inc. and Adtran.

The Ethernet-over-TDM access circuit platform segment managed to grow year-over-year in 2Q11. Leading vendors in this category during the quarter were Overture, RAD Data Communications Ltd. and Adtran.

Many of the leading CEAP solutions providers and their customers will be participating in Light Reading's upcoming Ethernet Expo Americas (Nov. 8 and 9 in New York City). Among other things, they will be providing updates on the latest innovations in access technology, sharing case studies on CEAP deployments in support of business, wholesale, mobile backhaul and consumer services, and highlighting service provider success stories in utilizing service OAM to control operating costs and improve the customer experience.

— Stan "EtherMan" Hubbard, Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading, and Chairman, Ethernet Europe 2011