Demand Propels Growth in Fiber Optic Test Equipment

Anne L. Fischer, Senior Editor

High-speed networking drives the fiber optic test equipment market, notably optical time-domain reflectometers, optical light sources, optical power meters and optical loss test sets. “World Fiber Optic Test Equipment Market,” issued by Frost & Sullivan of New York, says that growth of this market depends on the speed of the adoption of newer technologies.

Although dense wavelength division multiplexers held the largest market share in 2004, greater need for high-speed networking is expected to drive growth in optical time-domain reflectometers, optical light sources, optical power meters and optical loss test sets. Courtesy of Frost & Sullivan.

The market totaled approximately $613 million in 2004, reflecting a nearly 3 percent increase over the previous year. A compound annual growth rate of 5.3 percent is forecast from 2004 to 2011.

The document cites the installation and maintenance application segment as the one to watch. This sector constituted almost half the market in 2004 and is poised for continued strong growth.

Geographically, demand is strongest in the Asia/Pacific region, accounting for nearly 24 percent of worldwide demand in 2004. The report forecasts that this demand is likely to increase as companies expand globally.

The report lists six companies that make up the top tier of the fiber optic test equipment market: Acterna Corp., Agilent Technologies Inc., Ando, Anritsu Corp., Exfo and NetTest. They represent 67 percent of the total, and 16 others account for the remaining 33 percent.

The publication was released in June. For more information, visit www.frost.com.