Web 2.0 companies will buy a lot of optical modules says LightCounting

Market research firm LightCounting predicts in a new report that Web 2.0 companies will account for 30% of Ethernet optics and 20% of DWDM optics by 2021 in connection with mega data center deployments and supporting fiber-optic network infrastructure. Much of this optical module consumption will target 100G, the company says.

Total sales of Ethernet optical transceivers will reach $4.9 billion in 2021, a significant jump from the $1.6 billion recorded in 2014, LightCounting says in the report, "High-Speed Datacenter Optical Interconnects. Annual shipments will exceed 50 million units in 2019 and continue to grow, the company adds. In addition to accounting for 30% of shipments, mega data center requirements will account for more than 50% of the total sales by 2021, LightCounting forecasts.

Meanwhile, those data centers will need to be connected to each other. LightCounting predicts that data center interconnect 100G and 400G module requirements will consume 20% of the total DWDM ports sold in 2021 -- up from about 10% in 2014.

"It is an exciting time for the industry!" commented Dale Murray, principal analyst at LightCounting and lead author of the report. "Demand for 40GbE and 10GbE optics will remain strong in 2015-2021, but it is the emerging opportunity for 100GbE in data centers that makes it really exciting."

LightCounting says the data base supplied with the report offers sales projections for more than 50 product categories of Ethernet optical transceivers and the DWDM optics used to interconnect the data centers of the leading Web 2.0 companies. The forecast is based on correlation between the growth rates of aggregated optical connectivity bandwidth and Internet traffic. The report segments the total market for Ethernet optical transceivers into three parts: mega data centers, telecom, and enterprise networks.

The report also uses the latest information on data center network traffic provided by Google. LightCounting says this information indicates that traffic growth inside of mega data centers follows a pattern similar to that in many other networks, including those of telecom service providers, scientific organizations, and Internet exchanges. While traffic growth is significant, its rate is slowing down gradually in terms of percentage of the total.

The report and data base offer information on optics sales, including a breakdown of the products by data rate, reach, and form factor. The report offers a significant amount of information on 40GbE and 100GbE transceivers. It also summarizes the technical challenges faced by 100GbE transceiver suppliers, including a review of the latest products and technologies introduced by leading suppliers.

Vendors who shared confidential sales data with LightCounting for the report include Acacia, Accelink, Applied Optoelectronics, Avago, Coadna, Delta, Eoptolink, Finisar, Fujitsu, HG-Genuine, Hisense, Hitachi Cable, Innolight, JDSU, NEC, NeoPhotonics, Oclaro, OE Solutions, Source Photonics, Sumitomo, Superxone, and TE Connectivity.

For more information on optical transceivers and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer's Guide.