The demand for optical packet-transport equipment is forecast to grow at an average annual rate of 14 percent until it reaches $10 billion by 2019, according to a new report from Dell’Oro Group.
“The previous generation of optical equipment was defined by its transport capacity,” said Jimmy Yu, Vice President of Optical Transport Market Research at Dell’Oro Group. “However, I think the next generation will be defined by its adaptability and openness. Service providers need these types of features in order to move to a software defined network architecture or carrier SDN, as well as to enable network elasticity and operational cost savings. The right optical network elements, starting with optical packet-transport, will help service providers to realize the benefits of carrier SDN,” added Mr. Yu.
Optical Packet-Transport systems unite optical switch functions with WDM optics, thereby enhancing WDM systems functionality beyond high capacity throughput to include bandwidth management, protection and restoration. As equipment manufacturers add open control interfaces, optical packet-transport equipment can be an excellent network element to undertake requests from an SDN controller for network changes, service turn-up and turn-down.
