RIO RANCHO, N.M. -
July 25, 2013 -
PRLog -- This year, 100G fiber is expected to generate revenues of over $1 billon for the first time, according to research firm Ovum. The firm analysed the financial results from 1Q13 in the global optical network market and found several trends, including one disappointing trend that makes growth overall remained difficult, with only Japan's Fujitsu posting sequential and year-on-year gains. "While it is not uncommon for the market to decline going into the first calendar quarter, the decline is worrisome as this is the fifth straight time the market has declined versus the prior year's quarter, and quarterly revenues are the lowest they've been in six years," says Ron Kline, network infrastructure analyst at Ovum. He added that 100G provided some encouragement, as it continued to show strong growth both sequentially and year over year. 100G port shipments in 1Q13 grew 41 percent and revenues grew 24% compared with 4Q12, with annualized revenues surpassing $ 1 billion for the first time. "Twenty vendors shipped 100G for revenue in 1Q13 and more are slated to enter the market throughout the year. Guidance from vendors is cautiously optimistic, with good short-term visibility into order growth; long term visibility remains cloudy. " he says.Ovum's newly released market share analysis indicates sales of next-generation converted packet-optical transport systems, including OTN switching gear, grew as well versus the year-ago quarter. However, annualized sales of 40G gear declined for the first time, indicating perhaps that the 40G market is starting to show as vendors price 100G aggressively. From a regional perspective, spending compared to the year-ago quarter dropped in Asia-Pacific and EMEA, remained flat in North America, and grew 15% in South and Central America. Ovum's analysis also revealed that Chinese vendor ZTE surpassed rival Alcatel-Lucent in global optical networking market over the quarter. This means that the top two slots in the market are now held by Chinese vendors, with Huawei with the greatest market share. "The 1Q13 global ON revenue results are consistent with our most recent annual forecast published in April 2013. Ovum is projecting the optical networks market will exceed US$17.1 billion by 2018. For 2.7% CAGR from 2012." Kline explains. "We project that all ON market regions will resume growth in 2013 as carriers who exercised fiscal caution and deferred spending in 2012 restart their plans. Growth of IP, video, mobile data, and data center expansions occurring in urban and more remote areas will be an ongoing catalyst for network footprint extension and capacity growth. Submarine network footprint and capacity will also expand in 2013."
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