JUNE 4, 2007 -- The optical transceiver industry reached a milestone in 2006 as annual sales of transceivers exceeded $1.5 billion for the first time since the telecommunications market bubble of 2000, reveals a new report from LightCounting (search for LightCounting), "The state of the transceiver industry."
According to the report, the transceiver industry enjoyed a period of steady growth from 2004 to 2006, and this trend is likely to continue as optical fiber becomes the media of choice for delivering broadband services. Market growth between now and 2010 primarily will be driven by deployment of FTTx modules and transceivers in telecommunications and high-data-rate transceivers (4-, 8-, and 10-Gbit/sec) in enterprise and storage networks.
Confidential sales data reported to LightCounting by leading transceiver vendors was used to analyze industry consolidation. The report also discusses profitability and diversification of transceiver vendors, their key customers, and suppliers.
"A wave of consolidation, which swept the optical transceiver industry in the last six months, is more of a sneaker wave rather than a tsunami," notes Dr. Vladimir Kozlov, founder of LightCounting. "Vendors made tactical changes repositioning their businesses, while the core of industry structure remained intact. Considering substantial changes on the carrier and system vendor level, the optical transceiver industry may see a more significant restructuring."
Technological innovation, largely ignored since 2000, is reentering the spotlight, adds Dr. Roy Rubenstein, director of research at LightCounting. In recent years, companies have largely resorted to established technologies and manufacturing practices, but of late, they are examining technologies that offer more than incremental improvements to the optical transceiver industry, he says. The possible roadblocks are whether the transceiver industry will accept innovation and whether there will be enough competitive pressure for vendors to bet on new technologies.
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