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Infonetics: Tunable transceivers, 100G pace optical transceiver growth

Once the final numbers for 2012 are tallied, sales of optical transceivers and transponders will have risen 7% this year, believes market research firm Infonetics Research. Tunable transceivers and 100-Gbps transceivers will have set the pace, Infonetics analysts say. The news should continue to be good in 2013 as well, the company expects.

The announcement comes as Infonetics preps its 10G/40G/100G Optical Transceivers market size and forecast report, which tracks such devices sold for optical transport, enterprise, data center, and carrier routing and switching applications. The estimation is slightly more aggressive than that of LightCounting, which recently suggested the market will have grown 6% this yea.

The data suggests that the hype surrounding 100-Gbps technology was well founded. "100G continues to surpass even our most optimistic projections," reports Andrew Schmitt, principal analyst for optical at Infonetics Research. "There's been a flurry of prototyping, sampling, and trial activity all around the world, including China, where plans for 100G have been bumped up by 12 months since we spoke to operators there last spring. In line with our aggressive forecasts, worldwide shipments of 100G coherent transceivers more than tripled in 2012, and will at least double in 2013."

Many 100G transceiver shipments this year came from network equipment vendors, a trend Infonetics expects to continue for the foreseeable future. In fact, the company forecasts that systems houses will supply more than 75% of 100-Gbps long-reach ports by 2014-2015.

Combined sales value of 40-Gbps and 100-Gbps optical modules should equal that of 10-Gbps optical transceivers by 2015 as well, which further testifies to the shift toward high-speed fiber-optic networks. Concurrently, revenues for 10G and 40G devices are being pressured by price declines and the growing popularity of 100G.

"The other big deal in the transceiver market is that the pricing gap collapsed between tunable and non-tunable XFP, further spurring adoption of tunable XFP technology," Schmitt adds.

The overall growth comes against backdrop of capex declines and macro-economic uncertainty. Nevertheless, Infonetics remains bullish on the optical transceiver/transponder niche, forecasting the space will see double-digit growth in 2013. That will place market value near $2 billion, Infonetics concludes.

O2 Picks Nokia Siemens's 4G

Nokia Siemens Networks has been selected by O2 (Telefónica UK) to prepare its network to deliver 4G - Long Term Evolution (LTE*) - services across London and the South East of England. The UK operator is anticipating a rapid launch of 4G following Ofcom’s spectrum auctions scheduled for early 2013.

The decision to upgrade its network to 4G was made after a successful 12 month LTE network trial involving hundreds of consumers and businesses across parts of London. O2’s investment in its UK network with Nokia Siemens Networks includes an upgrade to its existing GSM and 3G (HSPA) network with the latest radio access technology.

Nokia Siemens Networks is also enabling O2’s radio access network (RAN) sharing.

“We’re investing in our network now to ensure we’re able to make 4G available to our customers as soon as possible following next year’s spectrum auctions,” said Andrew Conway, Head of Mobile Access for O2. “Our choice of vendor was based on the positive experiences we’ve had implementing Nokia Siemens Networks’ Liquid Radio solution in our network.”

Nokia Siemens Networks

Telefonica picks Cisco routers for global network upgrade

Cisco says Telefonica Global Solutions, part of the Telefonica Group, has selected Cisco for its enhanced Internet Protocol next-generation network (IP NGN). Telefonica's network connects more than 100 locations in more than 60 cities and 40 countries, including the main cities of Europe, Latin America, the United States, and Asia.

The upgraded network will support new and future revenue-generating services and help ensure that Telefonica has the capacity to meet the needs of its global customer base. Integral to supporting this Internet growth will be the deployment of the IPv6-compliant Cisco CRS-3 and ASR 9000 Series routers for enhanced capacity, high resiliency, and robust IPv6 support, according to Cisco.

Cisco says the CRS offers the possibility of future upgrading capacity for its core network with up to 400-Gbps-per-slot capability, high resiliency, and a cost-effective intelligent core solution to improve the return on investment for its core network. Cisco's new elastic core capabilities make it possible to seamlessly add a second chassis without the space and cost of a separate fabric chassis (see “Cisco tackles 100-Gbps IP/optical convergence with nLight and elastic core”).

Both the Cisco CRS and ASR 9000 Series use the modular Cisco IOS XR software operating system, which is designed to simplify network operations and enable comprehensive system redundancy and network resiliency.

Alejandro Martínez, VP of Telefonica Global Solutions, Global Network and Platforms said, "Telefonica is committed to using the most innovative technology for all its services and products. As a global company with a network spanning Asia, Europe, and the Americas we're committed to leading the world in high speed infrastructure that will ultimately give our customers more choice, flexibility and innovation. This network expansion helps ensure that Telefonica can meet that commitment."

NSN to Sell Optical Business

Nokia Siemens Networks has agreed to sell its Optical Networks business to Marlin Equity Partners, the private equity firm that recently announced plans to buy what was left of Sycamore Networks Inc.

No financial terms were disclosed. Once the deal is concluded, which is expected to happen in early 2013, about 1,900 NSN staff, most of whom are based in China, Germany and Portugal, will transfer to Marlin. The private equity firm is creating a new optical systems company, based in Munich, with NSN's current head of optical, Herbert Merz, as the CEO.

The divestment includes NSN's 100Gbit/s coherent platform, the hiT 7300, and its packet-optical switch, the hiT 7100, plus a number of network management and planning tools. NSN claims to have more than 200 optical transport systems customers. (See XO Deploys First Nationwide 100G Network, XO's Not Done Yet With 100G, NSN Makes Optical Advances and Euronews: NSN Lands 100G Deal.)

The deal does not include NSN's Carrier Ethernet assets, for which a separate divestment deal is being sought. (See Can NSN Offload Its Carrier Ethernet Assets?)

NSN has already sold a number of technology assets, including its microwave backhaul, WiMax, fixed access broadband and IPTV product lines, and is still seeking buyers for others parts of the business. (See Is NSN Close to BSS Sale? and M&A Interest in NSN's BSS Assets Builds.)

Marlin intends to form a new optical equipment company around the new acquisition and buy more assets: It says it "intends to act as a consolidator, building an industry leader in the fragmented optical networking sector."

That sector, which generates sales of around US$15 billion a year currently, has been in decline this year, according to Ovum Ltd. . The current market leaders, according to Infonetics Research Inc. , are Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. , Ciena Corp. (Nasdaq: CIEN) and Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU). (See Ovum: Optical Networking Market Shrinks Again.)

Lightreading

Reliance Globalcom taps Ciena for another fiber-optic network upgrade

For the second time in less than a week, Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) and Reliance Globalcom have revealed that the latter will use equipment from the former in a network upgrade. The latest announcement covers the upgrade of Reliance Globalcom’s FNAL backhaul network in Asia.

Reliance Globalcom will use Ciena’s 100-Gbps enabled 6500 Packet-Optical Platform in the FNAL upgrade. The service provider now will use 40-Gbps OTN-based wavelengths across FNAL subsea segments, and between its Taipei and Seoul points-of-presence (PoPs). The upgrade enables Reliance Globalcom to offer bandwidth speeds ranging from 1 Gbps to 40 Gbps, with an option for 2.5 Gbps and 10 Gbps between its PoPs. This upgrade to the terrestrial portion of FNAL complements an earlier 40-Gbps deployment on the undersea segment (see "Reliance Globalcom adds 40-Gbps coherent to FNAL submarine cable network").

“Asia is currently among the leading regions where the Internet and broadband penetration rates are high but there is still a significant potential for bandwidth growth. Reliance Globalcom is committed to meet this growth by upgrading its network consistently in a cost-effective manner with the latest transmission technologies like OTN,” according to Punit Garg, president and CEO of Reliance Globalcom.

Last week, the two companies announced that Reliance Globalcom will use the 6500 Packet-Optical Platform on its its FLAG Europe-Asia (FEA) submarine network (see “Reliance Globalcom picks Ciena for 100G submarine cable upgrade”).

“High-bandwidth applications such as video and cloud computing continue to put pressure on today’s networks, requiring carriers like Reliance to deploy technologies that not only increase capacity but also provide more intelligent, adaptable networks,” said Anthony McLachlan, Vice President and General Manager, Asia Pacific, Ciena.

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