Dell’Oro: Optical Transport Equipment sales for DCI up 13% in Q1

Sales of optical transport equipment used for data center interconnect (DCI) increased 13 percent year-over-year in 1Q 2020, according to a new report from Dell’Oro Group,. The top three vendors — Ciena, Cisco, and Infinera — with a combined share of over 70% benefited the most from the rising demand for data center connectivity.

“Data center interconnect continued to be an important application for optical transport equipment, especially in times like this,” said Jimmy Yu, Vice President at Dell’Oro Group. “While macroeconomic conditions will suffer this year due to the actions taken to contain the spread of COVID-19, we anticipate demand for data center connectivity will continue to rise as people rely more on cloud-based services,” added Yu.

Additional highlights from the 1Q 2020 Optical Transport Quarterly Report:

• Spending on optical equipment for DCI was highest for metro spans in the quarter, outpacing the growth for DCI used in long haul spans.
• Most companies purchasing DCI equipment use the highest available wavelength speeds, driving sharp demand for 400 Gbps wavelengths.
• Cisco and Infinera, each gained 6 to 7 percentage points of data center interconnect market share in 1Q 2020 compared to 1Q 2019 as their customers buy more 600 Gbps-capable disaggregated WDM systems.