BOSTON, MA, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... In the midst of a crippling economic downturn in many sectors, U.S. demand for Business Ethernet service ports expanded at a rate of 43% during 2008.  Spurred by lower bandwidth costs and higher service availability, enterprises of all sizes purchased carrier-based Ethernet to support their business networking applications, according to Vertical Systems Group's year-end market analysis.
 

"Despite a near paralysis of new telecom spending at the end of the year, there were tens of thousands of new Business Ethernet service installs during 2008," said Rick Malone, principal at Vertical Systems Group. "Deployments were most active in the third quarter before many enterprises implemented spending freezes or staff reductions. Customer installations in the fourth quarter consisted primarily of follow-through on in-process network conversions.”
 

Based on retail customer port installations, AT&T maintained its U.S. market leadership in 2008, although considerable momentum by Verizon narrowed the gap. Attaining a position on Vertical Systems Group’s 2008 Business Ethernet Leaderboard with 5% or more of the market are eight service providers in the following order by share: AT&T, Verizon, tw Telecom, Cox, Qwest, Cogent, Time Warner Cable and
Level 3.
 

Detailed service provider share results are available now through Vertical Systems Group's ENS Research Programs. Contact us for subscription orders or more information.
 

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Vertical Systems Group's ENS Research Programs feature web-based access to hundreds of research topics, plus analyst support for your ad hoc requests or consultations.  As a comprehensive "real world" resource for business or product planning, ENS covers customer migration across all broadband network services to provide you with more defensible analysis as compared to discrete market forecasts.  Research Tracks include @Ethernet, @Access, @ Dedicated IP/MPLS VPNs, @Fiber, @Frame Relay, @Private Lines, @Broadband, @ATM, @SURVEYFlash, @STATFlash and more.
 

About Vertical Systems Group

Vertical Systems Group (http://www.verticalsystems.com) is recognized worldwide as a leading market research and strategic consulting firm specializing in defensible quantification of the networking industry.  To speak with an analyst at Vertical Systems Group, call Erica Ambrose at +1.781.352.0700 or eambrose@verticalsystems.com.