100G, 200G metro WDM optical transport growth drivers through 2019 says Dell'Oro

Demand for WDM systems, particularly metro WDM gear, will drive optical transport equipment sales to $15 billion by 2019, according to Dell'Oro Group. The forecast appears in the market research firm's new optical transport forecast report.

Dell'Oro expects the metro WDM space to enjoy a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10% over the forecast period. While 100-Gbps coherent transmission has accelerated metro WDM sales, the market research firm expects demand for metro 200-Gbps technology to begin to ramp in the metro this year. Dell'Oro expects 200G technology to compose almost 25% of WDM metro sales by 2019.

Meanwhile, 100G will continue to remain popular. The report forecasts more than 75% of WDM capacity installed over the next five years will use 100G technology.

"The network still needs a lot of raw bandwidth and WDM is the best equipment to deliver that," commented Jimmy Yu, vice president of optical transport market research at Dell'Oro Group and author of the report. "While high demand for long-haul equipment will continue, the biggest growth that we are projecting is in metro applications.

"The majority of metro equipment purchases will still be made by telecom service providers, expanding their metro network capacity for higher speed services, but we also see a strong trend towards enterprises such as Internet content providers and financial institutions procuring and installing their own high-speed 100-Gbps links," Yu continued. "This trend is being powered by the increasing importance of data centers to a company's core business."

The company foresees strength within the packet-optical transport system segment over the same time frame as well (see "Packet-optical transport systems demand robust through 2019 says Dell'Oro").

Dell'Oro's "Optical Transport 5-Year Forecast Report" offers an overview of the optical transport industry. It includes tables covering manufacturers' revenue, average selling prices, unit shipments, tributary/line or wavelength shipments (by speed up to >100 Gbps). The report tracks DWDM long haul terrestrial, WDM metro, multiservice multiplexers, and optical switch equipment.


For more information on high-speed transmission systems and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer's Guide.