Optical WDM hardware narket up 10 percent from year-ago Q1

USA: Infonetics Research released vendor market share and analysis from its Q1-2013 Optical Network Hardware report.

"The four-quarter rolling average for global optical WDM equipment revenue notched a third consecutive quarter of growth in 1Q13, and we believe the market will continue trending in a positive direction this year,” notes Andrew Schmitt, principal analyst for optical at Infonetics Research.

He adds: “On a year-over-year basis (1Q12 vs. 1Q13), total optical spending is down 5 percent, but this is only a result of massive cuts in legacy (SONET/SDH) spending over the past 12 months (down 30 percent). The WDM segment is up 10 percent year-over year, a welcome sign that spending in this more relevant segment is returning to long-term trend levels. I won’t call it a recovery until WDM revenue is up by double-digit percents for several quarters on a year-over-year basis, but 2013 is looking good, especially in North America and China, where 100G rollouts are picking up speed.”

Optical market highlights
* Worldwide, the overall optical network hardware market, including SONET/SDH and WDM equipment, totaled $2.6 billion in 1Q13.
* North America was the only region to post growth in overall optical hardware revenue on a quarterly basis in 1Q13, up 7.5 percent from 4Q12.
* Topping the optical market share leaderboard in 1Q13 are, in alphabetical order, Alcatel-Lucent, Ciena, Fujitsu, Huawei and ZTE.
* Ciena is now a larger supplier of WDM gear than Alcatel-Lucent and is second only to Huawei.
* Cyan, now publicly traded, grew revenue 86 percent year-over-year (and is now tracked in Infonetics’ Optical Network Hardware report).
* Nokia-Siemens completed its divestiture of its optical division, now called Coriant (also tracked in Infonetics’ optical report).