Data centres to drive optical networking

Ovum is projecting an upbeat long-term forecast for sales of optical networking (ON) equipment, driven by brand new data centre demands, Manufacturing Business Technology reports.

The global analysts expect the ON market to reach $20 billion by 2017, with a 5% compound annual growth rate.

According to Channel Partners Online, Latin America will drive that growth as companies there modernise their networks and support mobile and broadband access network build-outs. North America is expected to exhibit solid growth as tier 1 network operators embrace new 100G technology to meet growing data centre needs.

In Asia-Pacific, growth will continue, Ovum says, but not as quickly as it has been, cooling off after five years of torrid growth. The EMEA market is expected to expand, despite the current economic problems there, due to deployment activity in Russia, the UK, Eastern Europe and Africa.

Redpath describes the global optical network market as being at a very interesting point in its evolution, with new demands arising “just as the industry's latest technology offering is coming to fruition”, iTWire writes.