Service providers are opting to buy carrier Ethernet equipment over rival products, according to a recent report.

Infonetics Research said that worldwide spending on the carrier Ethernet equipment market is expected to reach $37.5 billion in 2015.

"The growth in service provider investments in carrier Ethernet equipment continues to outpace that of other telecom equipment,” Michael Howard (News - Alert), Infonetics Research's principal analyst for carrier and data center networks, said in a company statement that was carried by TMCnet. “The largest investments are in routers, carrier Ethernet switches (CES (News - Alert)), and optical gear. Ethernet microwave is the fastest growing segment due to its use for mobile backhaul.”

Also, carriers spent $26.5 billion on carrier Ethernet equipment in 2010, Infonetics Research said.

In addition, Cisco leads the carrier Ethernet switch market. It had almost half of global revenue during the first quarter of 2011. Juniper is in second place.

The Ethernet access device (EAD) market will likely increase at an 18% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2010 to 2015, Infonetics adds.

The firm identified ADVA (News - Alert) as the top-ranked company in the global EAD market, followed by Ciena, Infonetics said.

“The biggest early driver [of carrier Ethernet] was carriers moving to an IP network,” Howard said in an interview with ConnectedPlanetOnline. “But in the last year, if not the last three, what has pushed [carrier Ethernet] more dramatically is video and mobile broadband. In the future we see the cloud as a big driver.”

Companies followed were: Actelis (News - Alert), ADTRAN, ADVA, Alcatel-Lucent, ANDA, Axerra, Brocade, Ciena, Cisco, ECI, Ericsson, Extreme, FibroLAN, Fujitsu, Hatteras, Hitachi Cable, Huawei, Infinera, IPITEK, Juniper, MRV, NEC, NexComm, Nokia Siemens, OneAccess, Overture, Positron, RAD Data, Sycamore, Telco Systems, Tellabs (News - Alert), Telrad, Transmode, Zhone, and ZTE, according to Infonetics Research.

Infonetics Research is a market research and consulting firm. It was founded in 1990.