10:35 AM -- LAS VEGAS -- NXTcomm 2008 -- Ethernet demarcation devices are moving into the 10-Gbit/s era. ANDA Networks Inc. trotted out its version yesterday. (See ANDA Adds 10-Gig Demarc.)

The company's following in the footsteps of MRV Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: MRVC), which got a Best of Show nod when it launched a 10-Gbit/s demarc box at last year's NXTcomm. (See MRV Struts at NXTcomm.)

The motivation is simple: Carriers have started selling 10-Gbit/s services, anticipating that video delivery needs are going to feed demand there. Peer-to-peer applications and the rise of wireless data demand might help, too.

Naturally, this is going to become a trend. I haven't gotten a chance to see ADVA Optical Networking at the show, but I'd expect they have a 10-Gbit/s device in the works.

We do know RAD Data Communications Ltd. will be coming out with one. "I would say it's probably closer to the end of the year or the first quarter of next year," says Eitan Schwaz, vice president of RAD's TDM-over-IP division. Note that that's an unofficial estimate, not a formal announcement.

Not everyone is ready to jump on the 10-Gbit/s bandwagon right away, though. Eric Vallone, vice president of marketing for Actelis Networks Inc. , doesn't see a need for a 10-Gbit/s connection at the customer premises yet. The aggregation network is a more likely home for that kind of speed, he says.

ANDA is touting its 10-Gbit/s demarc as part of the end-to-end answer for carrier Ethernet. Management software is a bigger part of that picture, as reflected in the company's EtherView announcement last week. The key there, ANDA says, is the ability to support multiple vendors' equipment -- not only because that's what carriers need, but because it gives ANDA an "in" with stubborn big carriers.

— Craig Matsumoto, West Coast Editor, Light Reading