The results, based on retail port share, show that Level 3 Communications has bumped BT Global Services out of the fourth position. BT is now at number five, followed by Verizon and NTT at six and seven.
“Demand for global Ethernet networking continues to expand,” said Rick Malone, principal at Vertical Systems Group. “As retail Ethernet providers extend their network footprints through partners worldwide, the growth outlook for wholesale services is increasing.”
The Vertical Systems survey ranks companies in its Global Provider Leaderboard if they hold a 4% or higher share of billable retail ports at sites outside of their respective home countries. Vertical Systems does not give actual numbers for each company’s share.
Below the top seven, the Challenge Tier of Vertical Systems’ Global Provider Leaderboard includes companies with share between 2% and 4% of this market. Six companies qualify, said Vertical Systems, which listed them in alphabetical order rather than ranking them according to size: Cogent, Singtel, T-Systems, Tata Communications, Telefónica Worldwide and Vodafone.
“Orchestration across multiple provider networks is the top challenge constraining new service deployments, according to our research,” said Malone. “This obstacle is being addressed through collaboration among industry players and standards organizations, including efforts to standardise on open APIs and service specifications.”
Companies with a port share below 2% – putting them in fourteenth and lower positions in the league – are in Vertical Systems’ Market Player category.
Again in alphabetical order, the market research company lists 43 of them as follows: Bell Canada, Bezeq, CAT Telecom, CenturyLink, China Telecom, China Unicom, Chunghwa Telecom, Eir, Embratel, euNetworks, Exponential-e, Global Cloud Xchange, Globe, GlobeNet, GTT, Hutchinson Global, Indosat, Interoute, KDDI, Korea Telecom, KPN, Liberty Global, Masergy, PCCW Global, PLDT Global, Rogers, Rostelecom, Softbank Telecom, Spark, Sparkle, Sprint, StarHub, Symphony, TDC, Telekom Malaysia, Telia, Telin, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telstra, Vector, Virgin Media Business and Zayo, but the report also refers to “other providers selling Ethernet services outside their home country”.
Within the top category, Vertical Systems notes that Colt, AT&T, Level 3 and Verizon have received Carrier Ethernet 2.0 certification from MEF, the former Metro Ethernet Forum. In the Challenge Tier, five have CE 2.0 certification: SingTel, T-Systems, Tata, Telefónica and Vodafone.
Vertical Systems says that detailed information about market shares are available to customers of its Emerging Networks Service.