Business fiber access to network services reaches 13.4% of U.S. buildings with 20 or more employees, according to Vertical Systems Group's latest research, however small and medium enterprise (SME) sites are disproportionately underserved. Based on building size, nearly twice as many large enterprise sites are now fiber-connected as compared to the number of SME buildings. Business customers located in "fiber-connected" buildings have optical fiber access to network services that are supplied by one or more service providers.

Optical fiber is a key enabler for delivering emerging business network services, including Ethernet, IP VPNs, VoIP and IP video, at up to Gigabit speeds. Millions of fiber route miles are installed throughout the U.S. to ensure high capacity backbone carrier transport, however last mile connections to business customer sites are spottily available. Vertical Systems Group's latest research results analyze the rise in fiber-connected buildings and quantify how business fiber deployment has changed during the past four years.

"Scarcity of fiber is one of the three major market gaps challenging the growth of native Business Ethernet Services, in addition to speed range and pricing," said Rosemary Cochran, Principal at Vertical Systems Group. "There are hundreds of thousands of small and medium size buildings in the U.S. without access to fiber, which includes remote sites for large nationwide or global enterprises. Service providers are implementing many different solutions to fill their fiber gaps through business partnerships and alternative access technologies."

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