MARCH 22, 2010 -- Global sales of optical transceivers will reach $2.2 billion in 2010, with the market posting a 15 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) 2009-2013, as the industry catches up with the steadily growing demand for bandwidth, reports the latest Market Forecast from LightCounting LLC, a market research firm specializing in the optical transceiver space.
The improved macroeconomic climate and encouraging revenue guidance from transceiver manufacturers led LightCounting to increase projections to 10 percent for 2010. 10GigE SFP+ sales will grow explosively in 2010-2013, driven by low cost and increased port density. Sales of CWDM/DWDM modules will grow at 24% CAGR in 2010-2013, fueled by deployment of 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps networks. Sales of optical interconnects will grow at 34 percent CAGR but will remain a niche market, so demand will likely fluctuate.
"The slowdown in IT spending in 2008-9 has left service providers and equipment vendors having to catch up, with newer-generation products doing particularly well as networks upgrade to 10 Gb/s links," comments Scott Schube, senior analyst and strategist, LightCounting. "We also saw the emergence of optical in wireless backhaul applications to support the exploding bandwidth needs of new 3G, 4G, and LTE networks, and as smart phones, running new data-intensive applications, have brought existing network infrastructure to its knees."
This report presents historical data from 2006 to 2009 and a detailed market forecast through 2013 for SONET/SDH, Ethernet, Fibre Channel, CWDM/DWDM, FTTx transceivers, Optical Interconnects, including Active Optical Cables, sorted in over 100 product categories. The report discusses market realities and provides shipment detail for 40/100-Gbps applications. The sales data for 2006-2009 accounts for more than 30 transceiver vendors. The market forecast for 2009-2013 is based on LightCounting's model correlating transceiver sales with network traffic growth and projected subscribers of FTTx systems.