Much like transport systems are the lifeblood of a nation, today’s enterprise networks are responsible for almost the entire day-to-day business process, from sending emails to safely transmitting highly sensitive financial transactions.
Carrier Ethernet increasingly sits at the heart of the network, much like the infrastructure that makes up a country's transport system. Thanks to its ubiquitous nature and ability to act as a catalyst for different network technologies and services, carrier Ethernet’s popularity is growing rapidly.
Global analyst firm Ovum projects that the international enterprise Ethernet services market will surpass $62 billion by 2018. With this in mind, we look at the top five industry drivers that are shaping the future evolution of carrier Ethernet.
First, the evolution away from services that are based on time-division multiplexing (TDM). For generations, TDM-based services were the standard technology used to drive business network services. The advent of carrier Ethernet saw both technologies run in tandem for a time, but increasingly the latter is becoming the “go-to choice” worldwide.
Carrier Ethernet’s popularity will only increase as enterprises continue to move towards a network-as-a-service model and the adoption of network solutions with flexible, scalable and high-powered bandwidth in line with their business needs. The increasing popularity of carrier Ethernet will not only benefit multiple verticals, in birthing and enhancing new technologies, but also demonstrates the trust senior IT executives now have in the solution.
Second, the use of packet networks for timing distribution. Traditionally, operators have relied on networks to synchronize critical applications that depend on accurate time and frequency information. Traditional TDM-based networks provided the distinct advantage that all connection and redistribution points, as well as communication endpoints, could rely on the network’s common awareness of time and frequency (the T in TDM).