The market for Optical Transport Network (OTN) switching is booming, according to Infonetics Research. Worldwide overall OTN revenue totaled $8 billion in 2013, or 66% of all optical network hardware spending last year.
The market research firm just released its latest OTN and packet-optical hardware report, which tracks OTN switching and transport equipment and packet-optical transport systems (P-OTS).
"OTN switching had a major year of growth in 2013 as service providers prioritized installation of integrated WDM+OTN switching and 100G coherent technology in the core," said Andrew Schmitt, principal analyst for optical at Infonetics Research. "Alcatel-Lucent, Ciena, and Infinera are the key beneficiaries here. Meanwhile, Chinese carriers continue to expand large deployments of OTN switching, with Huawei as the sole beneficiary."
The OTN switching segment of the market grew 37% in 2013. Infonetics projects the OTN switching segment to grow at about a 20% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2013 to 2018.
The market for P-OTS hardware came to $1.7 billion in 2013, split fairly evenly between metro edge and metro regional P-OTS gear. P-OTS equipment revenue grew 32% between the second half of 2012 and the second half of 2013.
In the P-OTS space, the incumbent vendors Cisco, Fujitsu, Tellabs (now part of Coriant), Ciena, and Alcatel-Lucent are the market leaders, but new players BTI, Cyan, Transmode, and Ericsson are challenging with pure-play P-OTS platforms, says Infonetics.
For more information on packet-optical systems and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer’s Guide.