Week in research: Telepresence makes its mark; broadband spending jumps

Videoconferencing rises: The telepresence and videoconferencing market is on a growth track, an ABI Research report says, recording a 15 percent year-on-year rise in 2010 to $2.3 billion worldwide. By 2015, that figure should rise to $5.5 billion. A number of technology boosts will drive telepresence growth, including emerging applications like desktop and mobile videoconferencing, video integrated into unified communications (UC) environments, and immersive experiences like holographic and 3D technologies. Report.

OTN hangs tough: Sales in the OTN (optical transport network) cross-connect market will climb to $3.8 billion by 2020, a report from Telecom Pragmatics forecasts, peaking at $700 million in 2017. This despite the rise in all-IP networks--TP predicts that OTN networks will remain in use far beyond 2020. Additionally, Tellabs and Ciena will represent 75 percent of the market by 2015, and Asia will play a large role in OTN growth. Story.

Stimulus boosts broadband: Spending on broadband aggregation equipment by carriers jumped 27 percent in 2010 to $7.1 billion, Infonetics Research reports, with operators in China making significant investments. National broadband stimulus efforts in the U.S., Portugal and other countries also contributed to the spending increase. PON (passive optical networking) equipment made up most of the expenditures, followed closely by DSL aggregation equipment. News release.