Infonetics Research today released its latest report, ROADM Equipment and Components Market Outlook. ROADM stands for reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers, and Infonetics says worldwide ROADM revenue totaled well over $100 million in 2004. The firm predicts ROADM sales will double in 2005 and continue strong growth through 2008.
ROADMs simplify network operations by reducing the need for multiple transport layers. They support remote dynamic network reconfiguration on a per-wavelength basis without the need for a truck roll. They are designed to eliminate optical-electronic regeneration for pass-through wavelengths typical of first-generation DWDM systems and restriction of fixed-optical ADMs, such as wavelength stranding, per-wavelength engineering and jumper cabling to interconnect filter packs, transponders and line interfaces.
According to Infonetics, ROADM equipment represents only a small percentage of total metro WDM revenue today, but as service providers build their metro WDM transport rings with ROADM equipment, that number will grow to almost half of all metro WDM revenue by 2008.
"For a fairly nascent market, the size of the 2004 revenue total was a surprise, and likely will be for many ROADM component and equipment manufacturers," says Michael Howard, principal analyst of Infonetics Research and author of the report. "While North America and Japan are leading in number of deployments and RFP/RFI activity, many service providers around the world have ROADM equipment under evaluation in their labs and many more are interested. We expect to see the wholesale shift of core metro from fixed OADM to ROADM in most parts of the world by 2007."
