Week in research: Copper lives in niche role; attack traffic spikes 718 percent

Copper isn't dead yet: An estimated $1.5 billion will be spent on EFM-bonded, copper-based Ethernet access devices in the next five years, an Infonetics Research report forecasts. Much of that will be spent to increase capacity for businesses and some mobile backhaul networks. "People keep saying that copper's dead, but it's not—it has a limited but important role for Ethernet services, as evidenced by the continued growth of EFM (Ethernet in the first mile) bonded copper," notes Michael Howard, principal analyst for carrier networks and co-founder of Infonetics Research. "EFM's high capacities and reach make it a useful and effective alternative where fiber isn't justified." The market grew 3.5 percent in 2012 to $860 million, with Actelis, Overture and Ciena (Nasdaq: CIEN) as the top three vendors. Release

Infonetics Ethernet access devices

Attack traffic juggernaut: Between Q4 2012 and Q1 2013, attack traffic spiked 718 percent, said Prolexic Technologies in a report--the highest volume that the DDoS protection provider has ever recorded in a single quarter. Average attack bandwidth climbed from 5.9 Gbps in Q4 to 48.25 Gbps in the first quarter, averaging 32.4 million packets per second. Distributed denial of service attackers are also changing tactics: in addition to increased botnet resources, they are attempting to overwhelm infrastructure components, like routers, with infrastructure attacks climbing 26.75 percent in Q1.  Release

Submarine capacity grows: Between 2007 and 2012, submarine cable operators deployed 54 Tbps of new capacity, balanced across the world's major routes. The trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific, U.S.-Latin America, Intra-Asia and Europe-Asia routes gained 10 to 12 Tbps of capacity each in the five-year period. "While the total amount of lit bandwidth on routes to developing markets remains smaller than on routes between mature markets, demand on emerging market routes is growing much faster," said TeleGeography analyst Paul Brodsky. "Consequently, as telcos upgrade submarine cable networks to meet bandwidth demand, new capacity deployments are being distributed ever more evenly around the world." Article

TeleGeography submarine capacity deployments