Nortel Networks Carries 50 Percent of European Internet Traffic, Yankee Group Says
3/23/00 1:16:00 AM
Source: PR Newswire
URL: cnetinvestor.com
Optical Technology Relieving Bottleneck for Busiest International
Internet Routes
LONDON, March 23 /PRNewswire/ - Further testimony to its lead in building a new, high-performance Internet, 50 percent of all Internet traffic in Europe now travels over Optical Internet equipment from Nortel Networks (NYSE/TSE: NT). So says the Yankee Group in a report titled, The Optical Internet in Europe: Ending the Bottleneck, published today in its EuroScope Communications service.
This comes at a time when Internet traffic in Europe is growing dramatically. Seven of the world's 10 busiest international Internet routes -- including London-Paris, Amsterdam-Frankfurt, Amsterdam-Brussels, Brussels-London and Geneva-Paris -- connect European cities.(xx) The Yankee Group indicates that two thirds of Europe's Internet traffic remained in Europe by year end 1999, compared to less than 50 percent just one year earlier.
'The massive Internet growth we are seeing in Europe -- estimated at 200 million users by 2005 -- is only possible with the optical backbone networks to support it,' said Chris Lewis, managing director, research and consulting at the Yankee Group in Europe. 'Nortel Networks is a leader in the European terrestrial optical transmission market, and is well placed to benefit from the development.'
'This report confirms Nortel Networks' substantial impact on Europe's Internet backbone,' said Matt Desch, president, Service Provider Solutions, Nortel Networks. 'With the Metromedia Fiber Network agreement announced today, Nortel Networks is supplying more than 75 percent of all pan-European optical networks.'
'And we remain uniquely positioned to support Yankee Group's continued expectations for growth,' Desch said. 'Our operations are structured to keep us ahead of the self-perpetuating demand cycle by doubling capacity and halving bandwidth costs every nine months.'
Key conclusions of the Yankee Group report include:
- A 'self perpetuating cycle' is developing. As pan-European capacity
grows, bandwidth prices fall and more traffic is stimulated, leading to
greater demand for capacity.
- The availability of pan-European bandwidth is beginning to highlight
the lack of capacity in national and access networks. This growing
local bottleneck inhibits growth and is prompting several pan-European
bandwidth providers to build national and city fiber networks.
- Bandwidth providers now see the Internet as the key to their own growth
and are increasingly acquiring or partnering with Internet service
providers.
In parallel, the rapidly improving quality and reliability of IP (Internet Protocol)-based optical networks is encouraging transformation of bandwidth providers into e-commerce enablers.
Nortel Networks is a global market leader in optical networking and a leading supplier in optical components in an overall market growing at 56 percent annually to over US$35 billion by 2001.(xxx) This includes the No. 1 market share in both DWDM (32 percent) and SONET/SDH (26 percent).(xxxx) Revenue from Nortel Networks' optical business is growing rapidly as service providers race to meet explosive demands for bandwidth driven by the Internet and growth in eBusiness. |
