100G focus moves to the metro says Infonetics

Carriers expect 100G WDM to account for almost 40% of all metro wavelength deployments and 75% of the core network in 2017, according to the latest survey from Infonetics Research.

The findings are part of the market research firm’s “2014 100G+ and ROADM Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey,” which details the plans of operators transitioning optical transmission and switching equipment to higher-speed 100G and faster wavelengths.

"The big battleground for vendors of 100G-and-beyond coherent equipment and components has shifted to the metro as winners for long-reach core applications have been decided," said Andrew Schmitt, principal analyst for carrier transport networking at Infonetics Research.

"There are two very distinct markets for coherent technology,” he added. “One market is deploying long haul coherent today and will transition to metro in the coming years. But there is another, separate customer type that is already fully committed to deploying coherent technology in the metro today. These two markets have major implications for the supply chain regarding product specialization and the relative lack of interest in flex-coherent technology by some customers."

The results surprised Schmitt, who noted that operator respondents have reasonable expectations for pricing for coherent metro-regional and access applications versus the core. Price isn’t the barrier that he thought it would be, which means that metro 100G will grow much faster than expected, he told Lightwave in a podcast recently (see "Infonetics survey details new metro 100G realities").

Respondents expect a greater uptake of 100 Gigabit Ethernet transport when compared to previous years' Infonetics surveys. When it comes to end-use applications for metro 100G, study participants view data center interconnect as the clear killer app for the next 12 months. Pluggable CFP and CFP2 optical transceiver technology is perceived by respondents as a more important technology for the metro this year than it was last year, the study found.

For its 19-page "100G+ and ROADM Strategies" survey, Infonetics interviewed 31 incumbent, competitive, mobile, and cable operators from EMEA, North America, and Asia that have an optical transport network using WDM. Together, the respondents represent 33% of the world's telecom revenue and 36% of global capex. The survey covers 100G WDM price points, metro coherent wavelength deployment trends, end-use applications for metro 100G, metro and core technology adoption rates, and key technologies for optical transport.

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