Higher-speed wavelength demand to drive optical transport sales toward $80 billion: Dell’Oro

Jan. 24, 2019
Dell’Oro Group predicts that the demand for wavelength transmission rates greater than 100 Gbps will drive cumulative optical transport equipment sales to near $80 billion over the next five years. That’s an increase of 16%, the market research firm notes in its latest “Optical Transport 5-Year Forecast Report.”

Dell’Oro Group predicts that the demand for wavelength transmission rates greater than 100 Gbps will drive cumulative optical transport equipment sales to near $80 billion over the next five years. That’s an increase of 16%, the market research firm notes in its latest “Optical Transport 5-Year Forecast Report.”

“The market demand for 100 Gbps will continue to be large, but all future optical transport market growth will be driven by sales of higher wavelength speeds,” said Jimmy Yu, vice president at Dell’Oro Group. “We believe service providers are still motivated to chase better spectral efficiencies to economically increase network capacity while maintaining their capital spend. Hence, the desire to migrate to higher wavelength speeds such as 200 Gbps and 400 Gbps.

“Fortunately, component and system manufacturers are striving to deliver better coherent solutions with each new product generation. As a result, optical routes that once were only serviced by 100-Gbps wavelengths are now serviceable by 200-Gbps wavelengths and 400 Gbps in the future,” Yu concluded.

Revenues from gear that will support coherent transmission at 200 Gbps or greater will enjoy a 30% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) during the forecast period, according to the report. Disaggregated WDM systems also will become more popular during this time frame, Dell’Oro adds.

Dell’Oro’s “Optical Transport 5-Year Forecast Report” provides an overview of the optical transport industry space via tables covering manufacturers’ revenue, average selling prices, unit shipments, and tributary/line or wavelength shipments (by speed up to 600 Gbps). The report also tracks DWDM long-haul terrestrial and WDM metro applications, multiservice multiplexers, and optical switch equipment.

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