WDM to drive optical transport equipment market to $15 billion in 2021: Dell'Oro

WDM, in its various forms, will continue to drive optical transport equipment sales, according to a new report from Dell'Oro Group. Interest in the technology will drive the optical network equipment revenues to $15 billion by 2021, the market research firm predicts.

The metro space will prove particularly strong during the forecast period, Dell'Oro believes. And 100-Gbps technology also will take off, with revenues from such equipment growing at an annual rate of more than 80%. (Dell'Oro earlier predicted that sales of 200G and 400G systems should grow strongly as well; see "WDM shipments shifting to 200G/400G: Dell'Oro.") Data center interconnect also will drive sales; this application will account for 20% of the total WDM market by 2021, the report states.

"We are anticipating multiple years of Optical Transport Equipment market growth in the next five years," said Jimmy Yu, vice president at Dell'Oro Group. "We do not see any significant change in the future demand for network capacity. We believe that, on average, WDM shipments and revenue will be much higher across the next five years."

But the fun won't last forever, Yu predicts. "However, we do believe the Optical Transport market is inherently cyclical, and, following seven strong years of growth, foresee some market bumps to occur along the way," he added.

Dell'Oro's "Optical Transport 5-Year Forecast Report" provides an overview of the optical transport industry, with tables covering manufacturers' revenue, average selling prices, unit shipments, tributary/line or wavelength shipments (by speed up to >100 Gbps). The report tracks DWDM long haul terrestrial, WDM metro, multiservice multiplexers, and optical switch equipment

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