Optical network equipment up 8 pc in 4Q11

MASSACHUSETTS, USA: The global optical network equipment market, including WDM and SONET/SDH equipment, grew eight per cent sequentially in 4Q11, from $3.4 billion to $3.6 billion, finds Infonetics Research.

"Regional spending trends for optical network hardware were volatile in the final quarter of 2011, with North America down and the rest of the regions up sequentially, including a huge 63 per cent gain in Latin America -- a region showing very positive long-term trends," notes Andrew Schmitt, directing analyst, optical for Infonetics Research.

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For the full year 2011, the overall optical network hardware market is up nine per cent. Spending on optical gear eight per cent8 globally in the fourth quarter of 2011 (4Q11) over the previous quarter.

He continued: "While the typical end-of-year budget flush failed to materialize in North America with AT&T and Verizon spending less, it did appear in full effect in EMEA, particularly Europe, up almost 11 per cent. However, the surge in Europe was due mainly to a surge in legacy SDH spending rather than of new WDM gear. Rising legacy spending is a negative leading indicator, as is the reversal in EMEA's rolling four-quarter revenue, which turned negative in 4Q11 after only two quarters of gains."

Optical Hardware Market Highlights
In 2011, WDM optical spending grew 22 per cent while SONET/SDH spending shrank six per cent, as carriers continued to abandon investments in legacy technology in favour of ROADMs, coherent optics, packet-optical transport, and optical transport network (OTN) equipment.

ROADM spending is on a seven-quarter streak of consecutive gains, with shipments up a stunning 36 per cent in 2011 over 2010.

In 4Q11, the largest optical vendors benefitted most -- with the exception of Cisco - including Huawei (up 35 per cent), Alcatel-Lucent (up 20 per cent), and Ciena (up 10 per cent).

Notably, both Ciena and Infinera bucked the North America down-trend with positive quarterly optical revenue, it adds.