FIBER OPTICS AT YOUR SERVICE

Maybe customers do matter. Infonetics Research has picked up on an interesting trend in the intelligent optical networks biz: the closer the equipment is to the customer, the more sales it generates. Customer premises equipment sales skyrocketed in the first quarter of this year, and metro equipment sales also saw significant gains. In contrast, long-haul and submarine equipment sales plummeted even further in the first quarter compared with Q4 2001.
— Kevin Fitchard

Intelligent optical equipment sales trends, Q4 2001 to Q1 2002
Figure 1

Sales by region and by equipment type
Figure 2

SALES BREAKDOWN OF OPTICAL EQUIPMENT

Despite the gains made in metro equipment sales, long-haul equipment still accounts for the majority of all intelligent optical equipment sales. Infonetics still expects overall sales in the sector to fall to $9 billion this year, but the firm predicts that number will more than double by 2005.

Total sales
Figure 3

Share of optical equipment sales
Figure 4