QSFP, XFP Gear Predicted As Up-And-Coming Sales Stars
The global optical-transceiver market, including 10G, 40G and 100G models, grew 10 percent in 2012, to $1.63 billion. “100G optical transceivers arrived in force in 2012, with virtually every vendor fielding a solution. Though the market is nascent and the growth rate will slow, coherent 100G shipments are on track to more than double in 2013 and again in 2014," comments Andrew Schmitt, principal analyst/Optical at Infonetics Research. "2012 likely was the peak year for 40G WDM, but QSFP-based enterprise applications are ramping nicely." Ramping so nicely, in fact, that the research group predicts 40G QSFP long- and short-reach modules will triple this year alone. However, tunable XFPs are the big growth opportunity, with Infonetics expecting unit shipments to grow at a 36-percent CAGR from 2012 to 2017, driven by the continued strength of the 10G metro market.