The global market for packet-optical switching systems is expected to increase to $2.9bn by 2015, a 66.5% annual growth rate from 2010-2015, according to a new market tracker product from Heavy Reading.
Heavy Reading’s Next-Gen Core Packet-Optical Market Tracker is a new bi-annual forecasting service for tracking the core optical network migration to packets.
It charts the evolution of core packet-optical transport, for delivering concise and complete intelligence covering the migration to OTN switching, integration of WDM and switching, the role of packet switching and connection-oriented Ethernet in the core, and other new trends.
Heavy Reading said packet-optical switching market will benefit from a modest increase in carrier spending on the core network, and will grow at the expense of spending on stand-alone long-haul DWDM systems and stand-alone Sonet/SDH-based optical crossconnects.
Many vendors are viewing the new core optical transport switching requirements as an opportunity to enter a segment that has been closed off for about a decade, the tracker states.
Packet-optical switching is forecasted to increase from a 6.2% share of core transport and switching spending in 2010 to 53.5% of total spending in 2015.
In the first generation of optical switching, based on Sonet/SDH crossconnects, there were only three significant players including Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei and Ciena.
As the industry moved to OTN-based switching, there are already eight suppliers vying for the opportunity, with additional suppliers to join the mix.
