Preliminary results from Ovum's (www.ovum.com) quarterly optical components market tracking indicate that the optical components market posted its fourth–consecutive quarter of single–digit growth with an increase of 5% sequentially.
"The market posted a 23% gain over the same period last year, in part because 2Q07 was hard–hit by inventory corrections," says Daryl Inniss, Ovum practice leader and author of the study.
Inniss warns that these gains are tempered by the recent turmoil experienced in the financial markets. "The events are sufficiently large that the telecom market will likely be affected. But even before these events, optical components vendors were seeing evidence of market softness," he says.
Avanex, for example, guided to lower 3Q08 sales due in part to the slowdown in Asia. JDSU reported market uncertainty due to economic conditions, citing changes in the purchasing behavior of North American carriers as examples. At the optical networking level, both Nortel and Ciena have lowered their guidance. Still, says Inniss, "Notwithstanding market uncertainty, traffic growth, dominated by IP data, continues."
According to the report, among the top–10 suppliers, Opnext gained the most share on a quarterly basis, followed by Source Photonics and JDSU. Also, Source Photonics posted one of the best performances of the top–10 OC suppliers, and Finisar continues to report growth driven by demand for datacom transceivers.
For more findings, go to http:/lw. pennnet.com/display_article/340354/13/ARTCL/none/NNEWS/1.