According to Infonetics Research, the optical network hardware market, including wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) and synchronous optical networking/synchronous digital hierarchy, declined by three per cent in 2013.
In the fourth quarter of 2013, the global optical network market witnessed flat growth and revenues stood at $3.1 billion. The WDM segment registered growth for the sixth consecutive quarter in the period under review. In 2013, with an increasing number of 100G deployments, the segment witnessed 11 per cent growth.
The optical network market in the Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region witnessed a decline for the fifth consecutive year, however, Infonetics Research expects EMEA to witness higher spending in optical network market within the next one to two years. Despite slow growth of the optical hardware market in the EMEA, vendors such as Alcatel-Lucent, Ciena, Coriant and Huawei witnessed encouraging growth in the region.
In China, the optical market grew by 6 per cent and the market is expected to pick up with mass rollout of 100G. Going forward, higher investments in optical transport network and packet transport network are going to drive the growth in the optical network hardware market.
