The demand from service providers and enterprises for 100G network ports will drive up 100G port revenue beyond the $6 billion mark by 2017, according to a new Infonetics report.
Overall spending by service providers on 1G, 10G, 40G and 100G network ports grew to $37 billion in 2012, up 4 percent from the same period in 2011. By 2017, the research firm forecast that total network port spending will grow to $52 billion in 2017 due to growth network traffic and network upgrade needs.
By the end of this year, the number of 1G, 10G, 40G and 100G network ports shipped is expected to surpass 430 million versus only 146 million in 2008.
"For optical ports, 10G will remain the highest-volume speed, but 100G represents the area of the most dramatic growth," said Andrew Schmitt, principal analyst for optical at Infonetics and co-author of the report. "Service providers have indicated to us that by 2016, the majority of spending in long-haul networks will be on 100G."
A number of the largest U.S.-based incumbents have been deploying 100G in both their domestic and international networks.
CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) have been both aggressive in expanding their domestic and international 100G footprints.
Verizon incorporated 100G onto nearly 4,500 miles on its U.S. network, including five routes: Seattle to Salt Lake City, Indianapolis to St. Louis, St. Louis to Memphis, Charlotte to Nashville and Cleveland to Detroit.
Likewise, CenturyLink has added 100G capabilities in over 50 U.S. metro locations in addition to Singapore and London. It plans to make a number of other international city upgrades live this year.
In addition to using the 100G technology for its own backbone needs, it recently announced that DigitalGlobe, a provider of commercial high-resolution earth observation and advanced geospatial solutions, as one of its first end-customers to use its 100G Optical Wavelength Service.
For more:
- see the release
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