Competitors are nibbling away at Cisco's dominant position from multiple directions, says Heavy Reading analyst Stan Hubbard. (See Cisco Gets a CESR Wakeup Call.)

For example, BT Group plc (NYSE: BT - message board; London: BTA) is to use Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU - message board) routers to power an Ethernet services drive. And, while it didn't announce a win at the show, Juniper Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: JNPR - message board) claims it has a $250 million annual run rate and well more than 100 customers for the Ethernet-heavy MX series of routers, which weren't even shipping before March 2007. (See AlcaLu Expands at BT and Juniper Antes Up on Ethernet (Finally).)

Hubbard says to watch what Juniper does in cable. It's scored at least one big deal there, with Cox Communications Inc. , as announced in May. (See Cox Picks Juniper.)

2. Is PBT on the canvas, or just taking a standing count?
BT, having confirmed its U-turn over Provider Backbone Transport (PBT, also called PBB-TE), showed its hand by choosing Alcatel-Lucent as its main vendor partner for Ethernet service development, as noted above. (See PBT Sidelined at BT and A Guide to PBT/PBB-TE.)

But while BT's pro-Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) camp has the upper hand at the moment, Nortel Networks Ltd. (NYSE/Toronto: NT - message board), the vendor that's pumped PBT the hardest, and which was set to gain the most from a broad PBT deployment by the British carrier, is taking the AlcaLu deal in its stride.

"Certainly there are the technology's supporters" inside BT, says Michael Loomis, who leads product line management for carrier Ethernet at Nortel. "They've worked with us for a very long time," he adds, while hunting around for some straws to clutch. (See Nortel Touts Carrier Ethernet and Nortel: There's More to PBT Than BT.)

From the vendor side, Fujitsu Network Communications Inc. gave PBT a vote of confidence, and analysts, including those at Heavy Reading, consider PBT far from dead. (See Fujitsu Supports PBB-TE and Analyst: PBT’s Not Dead Yet.)