Cisco takes lead in market share for packet optical transport

Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) bumped Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) out of the top spot in Q1 2011 for packet optical transport providers in terms of market share, ACG Research reports in its latest study, which reveals a market on a solid growth trend of 21 percent year-over-year.

However, difficulties bringing 100G products to market could put the brakes on the current upward trend.

"We see service providers and content providers spending on their backbone networks as well as making significant architectural plans to change their metropolitan networks," said Eve Griliches, managing partner at ACG. "Vendors that execute on their packet transport strategy stand to gain significant market share in this segment."

Fujitsu captured the third spot in packet optical transport due to the strength of its North American shipments.

Packet optical transport worldwide saw a decline of 16.1 percent sequentially due to "typical Q1 seasonality."

ACG Research optical market

Source: ACG Research

Likewise, the worldwide packet optical networking market declined 18.1 percent sequentially in the first quarter but grew 3.7 percent year-over-year. Huawei held the top spot in this segment, followed closely by Alcatel-Lucent with Ciena taking third place.

"The optical market continues to recover from the recession; however we expect significant delays in 100G deployments as vendors struggle to bring product to market," said Griliches. "This bodes well for Ciena, which already has 100G product shipping, but most operators are looking for a second source, and the options for those positions are still wide open."

Source: ACG Research

For more:
- see the release

Related articles:
Cisco's disappointing fiscal Q3 profit, outlook could drive more job cuts
Alcatel-Lucent: IP, optical divisions drove rise in Q1 2011 results
Cisco completes $95M Inlet Technologies acquisition