Boston, MASSACHUSETTS, October 2, 2014—Market research firm Infonetics Research released excerpts from its 2014 100G+ and ROADM Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey, which details the plans of operators transitioning optical transmission and switching equipment to higher-speed 100G+ wavelengths.
“The big battleground for vendors of 100G-and-beyond coherent equipment and components has shifted to the metro as winners for long reach core applications have been decided,” says Andrew Schmitt, principal analyst for carrier transport networking at Infonetics Research.
“There are two very distinct markets for coherent technology. One market is deploying long haul coherent today and will transition to metro in the coming years. But there is another, separate customer type that is already fully committed to deploying coherent technology in the metro today,” Schmitt adds. “These two markets have major implications for the supply chain regarding product specialization and the relative lack of interest in flex coherent technology by some customers.”
100G+ AND ROADM SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS
Respondent operators have reasonable expectations for pricing for coherent metro-regional and access applications versus the core
When it comes to end-use applications for metro 100G, study participants view data center interconnect as the clear killer app for the next 12 months
Respondents also expect a greater uptake of 100GE transport when compared to previous years’ Infonetics surveys
Those surveyed expect 100G WDM to account for almost 40% of all metro wavelength deployments and 75% of the core network in 2017
Pluggable CFP and CFP2 technology is perceived by respondents as a more important technology for the metro this year than it was last year