Businesses could be in line to save on their IT costs as increased competition in the local area Ethernet market may result in prices falling, according to reports.

New services using Next Generation Network (NGN) technology can offer firms a 100MB Ethernet for prices around the 800 GBP mark.

With such low costs, the services may provide a realistic alternative to legacy systems which have traditionally dominated the sector.

Lee Wade, the founder of one such firm planning an NGN service, told The Register that "the appeal is the versatility of providing VoIP, and internet, and WLAN, and virtualisation products" through one deal - with room to provide extra services as needed.

He suggested that a similar service on a traditional managed connection would cost a company around 45,000 GBP a year, while the new technology comes in at less than a quarter of the price.

The first tentative rollouts of these services are planned for the second quarter of 2008, while moves to sign up larger customers may take place later in the year.