Optical hardware sales shrank in 2012, finds report

Sales of optical transport equipment declined 4% in 2012, according to a new report from Dell’Oro Group. The market research firm places the blame on a significant decline in sales of SONET and SDH equipment. “An overall market decline of 4% was pretty good considering that legacy equipment sales declined 30% in the year,” points out Jimmy Yu, vice president of optical transport research at Dell’Oro Group.

According to the report, the North American and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) markets took the brunt of the declines, each shrinking 12%. Overall, the weakness in these regions offset year-on-year growth in Asia Pacific (5% year on year) and Rest of World (2% growth).

More: Optical network spending slips 23% as European market falters

“Fortunately, optical network equipment continues to be needed even in soft economic times, so long as consumers increase their use of high-bandwidth access devices such as home broadband and smart phones," continues Dell'Oro's Yu. "The demand for more bandwidth has driven an increased need for WDM equipment, which continued a positive trajectory in the year, growing 8%.”

According to the report, Huawei, ZTE, and Alcatel-Lucent held the top three spots globally for the year, with a combined market share of nearly 50 percent. Huawei was tops in all regions of the world except North America, where Ciena earned first position, followed by Fujitsu and Cisco.

The Dell’Oro Group's Optical Transport Quarterly Report provides tables covering manufacturers’ revenue, average selling prices, unit shipments (by speed up to 100 Gbps). The study tracks DWDM long haul terrestrial, WDM metro, multiservice multiplexers (SONET/SDH), optical switch, and optical packet platforms.

Related: Report sees optical network hardware market shrinking