By Divya Narain, TMCnet Contributor
In a recent study, Eugene, Ore.-based opto-electronic market research company LightCounting said that the optical components and transceiver industry is thriving again after years of modest growth.
This is good news for suppliers who have been grappling with demanding customers and stiff competition from one another.
Although the current upswing is partly due to several slow quarters in late 2008 and early 2009, some factors definitely point to sustained growth. For example, LightCounting data on optical transceiver shipments in 2004-2009 suggest that investments in network infrastructure were lagging behind traffic growth by 10-15% per year and will now catch up.
In addition, online applications and services are spurring major upgrades to datacenters worldwide. New datacenters require much more optical connectivity than in the past because of increased data rates and changes in datacenter architecture.
“As the tide wave of recovery seems to be lifting all boats, it is important to identify market segments and product categories that will sustain market growth for more than just a few quarters,” said Dr. Vladimir Kozlov, founder and CEO of LightCounting. “Over the last five years, LightCounting has been working closely will more than 30 optical component and transceiver vendors, analyzing confidential sales data and forecasting market trends. This data proves incredibly valuable now, as our clients look for solid data and objective analysis in a flow of press releases hyping the market growth.”
“Despite continuous consolidation, supply chain of the optical networking industry remains fragmented, presenting a unique opportunity for strategically savvy companies to take full advantage of the market recovery,” added Brad Smith, Senior VP and analyst at LightCounting.
The LightCounting report gives an overview of the state of the optical component and transceiver industry, examining the industry dynamics in several market segments including SONET/SDH, Ethernet, Fiber Channel, WDM, FTTx, and optical interconnects. This report is based on confidential sales data that LightCounting obtained from leading vendors. The report also discusses the profitability, diversification and business strategies of optical component and transceiver vendors as well as their customers and suppliers.
In 2008, LightCounting had predicted significant growth in the optical transceiver market, as per a TMCnet article.
Divya Narain is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Divya’s articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Marisa Torrieri
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