100G makes up 20% of the WDM market says Infonetics

Market research firm Infonetics Research says spending on 100G optical transport hardware continues to escalate, even though global optical spending is down, according to preliminary analysis from its latest quarterly optical hardware report.

Overall, optical network hardware revenue, including WDM and SONET/SDH, declined 2% year-over-year in 1Q14 as a result of the decline in legacy SONET/SDH spend. On a rolling four-quarter basis, total optical spending was roughly flat. However, the WDM segment – of which 100G is a key part – notched its seventh straight quarter of year-over-year growth, ending up 8%.

"100G spending worldwide in 2013 was breathtaking, with total port shipments tripling during the year. This equates to around $2 billion in spending related to 100G. That's a lot – roughly 20% of all WDM spending!" said Andrew Schmitt, principal analyst for optical at Infonetics Research.

Schmitt says 100G revenue is flowing primarily into the hands of just five companies: Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU), Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN), Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Huawei Technologies Co Ltd., and Infinera Corp. (NASDAQ: INFN).

On a year-over-year basis for 1Q14, Huawei's revenue market share had slipped, Ciena's soared 26%, and Alcatel-Lucent's lifted 8%, according to the report.

Infonetics' quarterly optical hardware report provides worldwide and regional market size, market share, forecasts through 2018, analysis, and trends for metro and long-haul SONET/SDH and WDM equipment, Ethernet optical ports, SONET/SDH/PoS ports, and WDM ports. The full report will be published on May 23.

May 22, 2014

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