Cox Busuness, a provider of voice, data and video services, has maintained its position among U.S. business Ethernet providers, leading the cable industry and ranking telecommunications operators on Vertical Systems Group's 2008 Leaderboard.

 

Cox (News - Alert) Business, the business services arm of cable TV firm Cox Communications, is now the fourth-largest business Ethernet service provider in the U.S. in terms of number of customer ports, the company said based on new research from Vertical Systems Group that was announced last week. The research firm said Cox’s market share increased from 8.9 percent in 2007 to 10 percent in 2008, which makes Cox the most successful cable TV firm offering business Ethernet services. Demand for Ethernet services continues to be strong despite the slowdown in the economy.

The company has been delivering Ethernet services to customers served by both fiber and hybrid fiber coax (HFC).

"U.S. demand for business Ethernet service ports expanded at a rate of 43 percent during 2008, despite a challenging economy," said Rick Malone, principal, Vertical Systems Group. "Lower bandwidth costs and higher service availability make Ethernet a desirable networking technology for companies of all sizes seeking to increase network capabilities while driving cost out of the business."

 

The Vertical Systems reports that the majority of business Ethernet deployment comes from the replacement of legacy services. Ethernet services provide a simpler, more transparent, lower cost and more scalable transport option than other legacy technologies. Most of the customer Frame Relay circuits and more than half of Private Lines operate at a rate of 1.5 Mbps or less. Ethernet services help businesses get multi-megabit to Gigabit transport speeds for a fraction of the cost per bit as compared to what they currently pay for their legacy services.

Kristine Faulkner, vice president of product development and management, Cox Business says, "Ethernet represents an ideal solution for many businesses, but traditional telecom carriers have been reluctant to steer customers away from higher billing legacy services."

 

"Cox Business encourages IT directors, CIOs and business owners to investigate Ethernet as an opportunity to gain additional network flexibility and capabilities at a lower cost, particularly in the current economic environment," said Faulkner.