3Q14 optical network equipment spend down 5% year-on-year says Infonetics

The global optical network hardware market, including SONET/SDH and WDM equipment, totaled $3 billion in 3Q14, down 10% sequentially and 5% year-over-year, according to the latest report from market research firm Infonetics Research.

Though WDM equipment revenue is up 4% in 3Q14 from a year ago (see "Infonetics expects downturn in optical network hardware spending"), strong WDM spending trends waned in North America, and spending in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) continued to decline. Europe remains in an optical slump compounded by a weak macro economy, and Asia Pacific was down by double digits on a sequential basis, the analyst firm says.

"A spending divergence is opening in the optical market, with some service providers – primarily competitive carriers and Internet content providers – growing spend, while traditional carriers proceed with caution. Companies less dependent on EMEA and incumbent carriers are faring better – this effect explains the varying sentiment in the industry," notes Andrew Schmitt, principal analyst for carrier transport networking at Infonetics Research.

North America's run as a market stalwart ended in 3Q14 (see figure above), which led to strong results from Ciena being offset by other vendors' weaker performance. Fewer vendors are seeing market gains, but Alcatel-Lucent, Ciena, Cyan, Infinera, and NEC all notched positive results in 3Q14.

Infonetics' quarterly optical hardware report provides worldwide and regional market size, market share, forecasts through 2018, analysis, and trends for metro and long-haul SONET/SDH and WDM equipment, Ethernet optical ports, SONET/SDH/PoS ports, and WDM ports. The full report will be released on November 24.

For more information on DWDM equipment and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer's Guide.