According to the report, "Wired Communications: Capex Still a 'Four-Letter' Word," SONET/SDH will remain king in the metro segment; the move to alternative transport architectures is "virtually dead for now." OEMs should focus on next-generation SONET/SDH equipment and put other technologies on the back-burner, says Steve Rago, iSuppli's principal analyst of networking and optical communications. "The dream is still one of an all-packet network, but the carriers' pocketbooks can only afford more of the same for now," he reports.
To that end, semiconductor suppliers should expedite the development of next-generation SONET/SDH chipsets so OEMs and carriers can start field-trial programs. Highly integrated chipsets will not be required until mass deployment takes place.
Equipment vendors should also target the access and metro edge, which will combine for 54% of capex equipment dollars this year, says the report. Carriers are looking to deploy multiservice platforms that can be remotely and dynamically provisioned. "Issues like quality of service, service-level agreements, reliability, redundancy, latency, transparency, and security need to be addressed on a connection basis and priced accordingly," says Rago. "Carriers want to offer services, not bit transport."