Global optical network revenues down 10% in Q1 2005

Worldwide optical network hardware revenue decreased 10% to $2.3 billion between Q4 2004 and Q1 2005, a drop that was anticipated after the market surged 21% between Q3 2004 and Q4 2004, according to Infonetics Research. Typically many manufacturers are down in the first quarter of the year after showing big gains in the fourth quarter; this is especially true of market leader Alcatel, which posted huge gains in Q4 2004 but dropped 46% in Q1 2005, having the biggest effect on the overall market. While many manufacturers also had down quarters, some had up quarters, including Adva, Cisco, Ciena, ECI, Fujitsu, NEC, and Siemens. Infonetics forecasts annual optical network hardware revenue to increase 4% in 2005 and 16% between 2005 and 2008, with the strongest growth coming from metro WDM optical equipment, which will increase 60% between 2005 and 2008. The metro WDM switch segment is especially strong, jumping 247% by 2008. Infonetics expects worldwide optical revenue to hit the $10 billion range by 2008, a five-year compound annual growth rate in the mid single digits, as we see a steady healthy optical market driven by the undeniable onward push of bandwidth use by consumers and businesses