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Breaking News - Networking:

2004 To Be Key Year For GigE

Through discussions with vendors of LAN connectivity equipment -- NIC/LOMs and switches -- and an analysis of quarterly LAN connectivity shipment trends through 3Q 2003, In-Stat/MDR projects that 2004 will be a key year for the deployment of GigE, and, to a much more limited extent, 10 GigE, by U.S. businesses. According to the high-tech market research firm, most vendors cite the rapid drop in GigE ASPs, and the growing inclusion of GigE connectivity in business PCs by PC OEMs, as the key drivers for the growth in GigE shipments.

"The most significant barrier to adoption of GigE and 10 GigE appears to be the common perception among potential customers of the simple lack of need for a full Gigabit of bandwidth to the desktop, or a full 10 Gigabits of bandwidth anywhere in the organization," said Sam Lucero, an industry analyst with In-Stat/MDR. This theory is supported by results of a recent In-Stat/MDR survey of business end-users. In the survey, 64 percent of respondents cited simply a perceived lack of need for a Gigabit of bandwidth as the primary reason for not having deployed GigE. This was followed by the perception that a Gigabit of bandwidth is not justified by current prices, and the lack of budget, currently, to deploy GigE.


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Other key findings from the survey include:

  • Slightly over 54 percent of the respondents stated that their organizations had not deployed GigE, in the respondents' area of responsibility. Not surprisingly, enterprise organizations were the most likely to have deployed GigE, while SOHO organizations were the least likely.
  • CAT5 is the most widely deployed cabling infrastructure cited by respondents, followed by CAT5e.
  • Respondents cited the desire to prepare for future expected bandwidth needs as the top reason for deploying GigE, followed by provisioning sufficient bandwidth for converged networks and reducing delay/latency in the network. This finding underscores the current lack of a "killer app" driving GigE deployment. Essentially, deployments are being driven by price reductions that allow customers to think of GigE as viable "future-proofing" connectivity option, when new infrastructure needs to be deployed.

The report, "The Need for Speed: End-User Survey of Trends in GigE and 10 GigE LAN Connectivity" (#IN0401537LN),examines trends in GigE and 10 GigE from the end-user perspective, that is, from the perspective of IT managers, network administrators, purchasing managers, executives, and all those charged with purchasing, deploying, and/or maintaining networking equipment at US businesses and organizations of all sizes and from a variety of vertical industries. Specifically, this report examines business end-user perceptions, attitudes and activities in regard to GigE and 10 GigE deployments in their PC, server and LAN/MAN switching infrastructures.

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