The digital economy now exceeds $1.2 trillion in revenue and is driving a core and edge data center roadmap that is paired with a massively scaled connectivity roadmap.

According to a new report from Light Reading sister company Omdia, high-capacity Ethernet and wave services are facilitating massive data center interconnect.

Ian Redpath, practice leader, service provider networks, at Omdia, also said that tier 1 communications service providers (CSPs) are in the driver's seat of edge-compute market development, noting that they have key starting-point assets.

Figure 1: Pole position: Tier 1 CSPs are in the driving seat when it comes to the edge-compute market according to Omdia.
(Source: Clayton Tonna on Unsplash.)

"They should lead on application service and business model development, leveraging strengths and unique capabilities such as end-to-end SLA management.

"The CSPs' goal is to capture a true percentage of digital revenue," Redpath said in the report, "2021 Trends to Watch: High-Capacity Ethernet, Wave, and DCI Services."

The report also said COVID-19 has accelerated and cemented the value of cloud-based services. It pointed out that the rise in the use of collaboration tools for at-home working could only be accomplished with the "burstability" of a cloud platform.

"The pandemic led to heightened focus on site diversity and supporting a more distributed workforce," the report added.

Race to the cloud

Omdia also found that the high-capacity Ethernet, wave service and DCI services market continues to grow.

"More low latency, high-bandwidth, nimble connectivity is required. The largest customers want advanced automated network visibility and control," the report said.

Want to know more about the edge? Check out our dedicated edge content channel here on Light Reading.

In terms of the impact of COVID-19 on the take-up of cloud-based services, Omdia noted that the pandemic created more urgency for digital transformation services.

"Collaboration tools went from being toys to being mission critical," it said, also noting that "cloud-transitioned" enterprises were the least disrupted by the pandemic.

"The pandemic made it apparent that a strong, hybrid multicloud strategy is inherently less risky, providing site diversity and the ability to scale regardless of local lockdowns," the report concluded.

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— Anne Morris, contributing editor, special to Light Reading