In its first fullevaluation of the European WAN Services
marketplace, Forrester research says that in
spite of the apparent maturity of the MPLS market, there were
surprising differences between the technology providers, each of
whom had their own market niche.
In Forrester's 62-criteria evaluation of 12 European
MPLS-based WAN service providers, the industry found that COLT
Telecom, Orange Business Services, and Verizon Business led the
pack with the best overall combination of current offering and
strategy.
Forrester then ranked the remaining nine providers as strong
performers. BT Global Services had the greatest market presence
and was seen to be winning the most new business, but AT&T was
presenting itself as a major challenger to BT for the largest
European deals. Cable and Wireless offered end users an alternative
to the four majors, and Easynet very much in the deal flow,
offering what Forrester regarded as competitive pricing for
lower-speed networks.
Interoute and KPN have what the analyst feels are innovative
solutions and Global Crossing was seen to be building on its
success in the UK public sector. Where T-Systems was rated as
having the best infrastructure in Eastern Europe, Vanco was using a
virtual network operator (VNO) model to leverage the networks of
infrastructure-based carriers to deliver cost-effective
services.
The report added that European use of MPLS-based IP VPNs
(virtual private networks) for corporate networks has reached
maturity, with many enterprises now carrying IP voice and video
across their networks. Adoption of carrier Ethernet services was
seen to be growing and catching up with adoption of MPLS-based IP
VPNs: a quarter of firms currently used carrier Ethernet, and many
more were planning to bring it on board.