Infonetics: EMEA optical sales rose 25% in Q4 2010

While U.S. and China-based service provider dominate the migration from SONET/SDH, Infonetics Research believes that the EMEA region is going to be the next hotbed of optical growth.

In its Q4 Optical Network Hardware vendor market share report, the research firm reported that the overall worldwide optical network hardware market increased 9.6 percent to $3.58 billion in Q4 2010 over Q3 2010. Infonetics attributes fourth quarter growth to a year-end capex surge in EMEA, where optical equipment spending rose 24.6 percent in Q4 2010.  

Infonetics Optical Network Hardware

Andrew Schmitt, Infonetics Research's directing analyst for optical said it is seeing service providers make a continual transition away "from SONET/SDH to WDM optical equipment in the US and China, and a similar transition in EMEA awaits." He added that "The shift toward next generation mobile backhaul infrastructure is one factor, as are preparations by carriers for the optical reboot, a rebuilding of core networks to use 40/100G, OTN, and ROADM technologies."

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) and Huawei dominated the sales in the EMEA region. Fueled by new sales in the EMEA region, Hawuei reported 70 percent quarter-over-quarter growth, while Alcatel-Lucent's optical revenue grew 18 percent in the region.

Also of note were Ciena (Nasdaq: CIEN) and ZTE. Ciena, in particular saw its optical revenue double in 2009 as a result of its acquisition of its Nortel MEN acquisition, while ZTE's optical revenue grew 41 percent.

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