The optical transport network (OTN) switching segment is expected to grow at about a 20 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2013 to 2018, said Infonetics Research.

Worldwide overall OTN revenue totaled $8 billion in 2013, or 66 percent of all optical network hardware spending.

The OTN switching segment of the market grew 37 percent in 2013.

The market for P-OTS equipment came to $1.7 billion in 2013, split fairly evenly between metro edge and metro regional P-OTS gear.

Packet-optical transport systems (P-OTS) revenue grew 32 percent between the second half of 2012 and the second half of 2013.

“OTN switching had a major year of growth in 2013 as service providers prioritized installation of integrated WDM+OTN switching and 100G coherent technology in the core.

Alcatel-Lucent, Ciena, and Infinera are the key beneficiaries.

Chinese carriers continue to expand large deployments of OTN switching, with Huawei as the sole beneficiary, said Infonetics.

On the other hand, Ovum said Q4 was not kind to the Chinese vendors: Weakness in China drove revenues and share lower for all three Chinese vendors. Meanwhile, Ciena and Coriant were the only vendors in the top 10 posting gains both sequentially and versus the prior year. Coriant displaced NEC in the top 10.

“Over in the P-OTS space, incumbent vendors Cisco, Fujitsu, Tellabs, Ciena, and Alcatel-Lucent are the market leaders, but new players BTI, Cyan, Transmode, and Ericsson are challenging with pure-play P-OTS platforms,” said Andrew Schmitt, principal analyst for optical at Infonetics Research.

Ovum on OTN

Earlier, Ovum said the global ON market remained weak in Q4 2013. Quarterly global spending in Q4 2013 was down 10 percent from the year-earlier quarter to $3.5 billion. ON spending for the year reached $14.5 billion.

Ovum said Q4 2013 spending increases in EMEA and SCA did not offset declines in North America and Asia-Pacific. ON revenues in EMEA topped $1bn for the first time in a year, while spending in North America dropped under that mark for the first time since Q1 2013.