CAMPBELL, Calif. -- A new report from market research firm Infonetics Research says the 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GE) market is big and growing fast, with the number of ports shipping on enterprise and service provider equipment jumping from more than 300, 000 in 2006 to over 3 million in 2010.

The report, "10 Gigabit Ethernet Market Outlook," which tracks 10GE ports and revenue for telecom and datacom gear, shows that 10GE ports are most commonly deployed on Ethernet switches today. This trend will change over the coming years, according to the report, because 10G Ethernet 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 10G Ethernet to accommodate these new traffic patterns. 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," said Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise voice and data at Infonetics Research.

"On the service provider side, 10G Ethernet solves 2 problems: it lowers their cost of operations, and accommodates the increasing need for capacity on their networks," added principal analyst and co- founder of Infonetics, Michael Howard, who contributed to the report. "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. These trends favor the use of Ethernet technology, which typically has lower price points than other high-bandwidth equipment."

Infonetics Research Inc.