Infonetics Survey: Vendor SDN Strategies Not Yet Playing Key Role in Carriers’ Optical Equipment Decisions

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Market research firm Infonetics Research released excerpts from its Packet-Optical, MPLS, and Control Plane Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey, which examines the trends and assesses the needs of service providers using emerging optical networking architectures.

ANALYST NOTE

“No topic has generated more discussion in the past 12 months than software-defined networking (SDN), though most carriers have been publicly silent on their plans for SDN in the transport network. Our latest packet-optical study found that over three-quarters of service providers surveyed plan to deploy transport SDN, but only a third say vendors’ SDN strategies play a critical role in their equipment and vendor decisions today,” reports Andrew Schmitt, principal analyst for optical at Infonetics Research.

PACKET-OPTICAL SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS

• Opinions on exactly what constitutes a packet-optical transport system (P-OTS) vary widely in the industry; however, 86% of carriers surveyed say Infonetics’ definition of P-OTS is a good characterization
• 84% of respondents have deployed or will deploy P-OTS by the end of 2015
• The top reasons cited for deploying P-OTS are reducing complexity in the network and supporting services such as private line Ethernet and broadband aggregation
• Slightly more than half of respondents will use alien wavelengths to provide spectrum leasing and dark fiber services, not IP over DWDM (IPoDWDM)
• When asked to estimate the percentage of traffic transiting their network that is packet switched by conventional routers vs. packet-optical systems, respondents indicate that optical equipment will play a much larger role in packet switching and aggregation by 2016, but it will still be secondary to the role routers play

ABOUT THE SURVEY

For its 22-page packet-optical, MPLS, and control plane survey, Infonetics interviewed 21 incumbent, competitive, independent wireless, and cable operators that have deployed packet-optical transport systems (P-OTS) or plan to do so by the end of 2015. The study looks at why service providers deploy packet-optical equipment, how they make the tradeoff between using converged optical and Ethernet equipment versus standalone routers, and what network penetration looks like. It also explores carrier plans for alien wavelengths and using SDN in optical networks. To buy the report, contact Infonetics: http://www.infonetics.com/contact.asp.

RELATED REPORT EXCERPTS

• Infonetics’ latest Optical research brief: http://bit.ly/1qPI4rI
• WDM optical spending up 8% year-over-year in 1Q14; 100G makes up 20% of the market
• CDC ROADM rollouts to provide near-term boost for WSS component market
• Infinera, Fujitsu, Cisco, Ciena, and Huawei top new optical networking vendor scorecard
• Networking ports hit $39 billion; 40G booming in the data center, 100G taking off in the core
• OTN switching is booming; Alcatel-Lucent, Ciena, and Infinera cashing in

INFONETICS WEBINARS

Visit https://www.infonetics.com/infonetics-events to register for upcoming webinars, view recent webinars on demand, or learn about sponsoring a webinar.

• Diameter Signaling Control for LTE Networks (June 12: Attend)
• Coherent Optics: Cheaper, Better, Faster (July 24: Sponsor)
• The Roadmap for ROADM Network Expansion (View on-demand)
• 100G in the Metro: When and Where It Will Be Economical (View on-demand)
• Unlocking Revenues with Carrier Ethernet 2.0 Wholesale E-Access (View on-demand)
• How to Get the Best Out of DAS, Small Cells and WiFi (View on-demand)

TO BUY REPORTS, CONTACT:

N. America (West), Asia Pacific: Larry Howard, [e-mail], [phone]

N. America (East, Midwest), L. America: Scott Coyne, [e-mail], [phone]

EMEA, India, Singapore: George Stojsavljevic, [e-mail], [phone]

Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan: http://www.infonetics.com/contact.asp

ABOUT INFONETICS

Infonetics Research (www.infonetics.com) is an international market research and consulting firm serving the communications industry since 1990. A leader in defining and tracking emerging and established technologies in all world regions, Infonetics helps clients plan, strategize, and compete effectively. View Infonetics’ About Us slides at http://bit.ly/QUrbrV.