10GbE transceiver shipments up 40% in 2013 says LightCounting

Although increasing sales of 100G and 40G products tend to dominate the headlines, sales of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) optical transceivers are on target to set a new record in 2013, according to the latest report from market research firm LightCounting LLC.

Very strong demand for short reach (SR) 10GbE optical transceivers will push the total shipments of 10GbE modules above 10 million in 2013 – up 40% from last year, according to LightCounting’s calculations. This will also be the first year that shipments of 10GbE SR modules will exceed those of 1GbE SR, the company adds. This data confirms that optical connectivity captures a larger share of the market at 10 Gbps, despite reports of increasing sales of 10GBase-T (the copper-based standard) in early 2013.

Growth of the Ethernet transceiver market is also supported by a ramp in shipments of 40GbE and 100GbE products. However, the broader market for optical transceivers is likely to be flat in 2013 due to a sharp drop in sales of FTTx products. LightCounting believes the FTTx market has been overdue for a correction. Many vendors are reporting sharply lower shipments of EPON and GPON optical networking units (ONUs) in 2013, although sales of optical line terminal (OLT) products remain steady so far.

Shipments of optical transceivers for wireless infrastructure were modest in the first half of 2013, but demand for these products picked up sharply in the last three months. The market for active optical cables (AOCs) has also been slow in the first six months of 2013, despite first volume shipments of SFP+ active optical cables reported by leading suppliers (see “Active optical cable sales to jump 30% this year says LightCounting”).

Preview of the quarterly sales database is available now and the final version will be released in late October along with the Market Update Report. The database presents quarterly shipments and selling prices for more than 100 product categories of optical components and modules, covering eight quarters of 2012-2013, including actual data and estimates for the last two quarters of the year. LightCounting says more than 25 optical component and module vendors shared their confidential sales data for this report.

For more information on optical transceivers and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyers Guide.