From the 'Big Pipes, Big Money' files:

Infonetics Research is out with a new forecast on the Carrier Ethernet market. According to Infonetics, revenues from Carrier Ethernet equipment manufacturers will reach $34 billion by 2013.

The $34 billion figure is nearly double the $17 billion in Carrier Ethernet equipment manufacturer revenues that Infonetics reported for 2008. The 2008 revenues report came out in April and at that time, Infonetics had forecast 2013 revenues to be $32 billion, so they've now revised their figures upwards by $2 billion.

According to Infonetics, networking giant Cisco currently is the global leader in terms of revenue market share for carrier Ethernet switches, IP core routers and IP edge routers with Juniper Networks coming in second for the core router segment.

While the market for equipment is set to bring in revenues of $34 billion by 2013 the total amount spent on Carrier Ethernet over the next five years is projected by Infonetics to be $146 billion.

"Carrier Ethernet technology is integral to service provider IP next gen network projects aimed at transforming from TDM- to packet-based networks to handle ever-growing consumer, business, mobile backhaul, and video traffic," Michael Howard, principal analyst for carrier and data center networks at Infonetics Research said in a statement. "Service provider investment in carrier Ethernet continues to defy the economic downturn and outpace overall telecom capital expenditure investments."