OTN switching no longer a niche technology says Infonetics study

Infonetics Research says the results of its latest Optical Transport Network (OTN) study indicate that 86% of carrier respondents to the survey plan to deploy OTN switching.

The most recent survey shows that the momentum behind OTN switching uncovered in previous survey iterations (see "Operators still say yes to OTN switching in Infonetics survey" and "Infonetics survey says: OTN rules!") has continued to build.

"As the results of our latest OTN study bear out, OTN switching is no longer a niche technology," observes Andrew Schmitt, principal analyst for optical at Infonetics Research. "In the recent past there was a sizeable minority of carriers who planned to skip OTN switching, but that minority is dwindling. In the next 3 years, OTN switching is going to be a requirement for most WDM transport platforms in the metro and all higher-density systems in the core."

The survey results, contained in the market research firm’s new OTN, MPLS, and Control Plane Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey report, also indicate that carriers are interested in integrating OTN switching with other functions. This will help both OTN switching and these other functions gain traction in carrier networks. For example, while packet-optical transport platforms compose only 10% of the optical transport hardware market currently, nearly all survey respondents said that they’ll want systems that integrated OTN switching and packet switching by 2016. A chart Infonetics supplied illustrates how strongly carrier respondents feel about the matter:

"The OTN switching and WDM transport markets are in the process of combining, resulting in an even larger potential market for OTN switching than originally anticipated," Schmitt says.

The 2016 timeframe coincides with Infonetic’s belief that optical mesh protection will become a dominant feature of carrier networks by that year.

Infonetics interviewed 21 incumbent, wireless, and competitive operators from around the world that the market research firm says represent a combined 33% of global telecom revenue and capex. The survey results contained in the 22-page survey report provide insight into carrier interest in OTN and the degree to which it is already deployed. Survey questions cover packet switching and OTN switching integration, WDM interface use on OTN equipment, node penetration and sizes, and use of optical mesh protection.

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