NEWPORT, R.I., Feb. 13 -- The DWDM systems market will grow with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 43 percent through 2005 when the market will reach 54 billion, according to KMI Corp.'s latest report, "Worldwide Markets for Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM)."
    According to the report this growth represents a variety of trends, such as a maturation of the long distance segment of the DWDM equipment market, stiffening competition that will lead to price pressures and shorter-distance products in the market. By 2005, the short distance segment will exceed $9.6 billion and represent 18 percent of the market. The DWDM systems market jumped from $4.2 billion in 1999 to $8.9 billion in 2000, according to KMI estimates. From $1.7 billion in 1997, the market has seen a CAGR of 73 percent over the last four years.
    The DWDM market boomed from 1999 to 2000, as several indicators suggest. The number of vendors offering DWDM system-level products grew from about 15 in 1999 to more than 30 in 2000 despite some high-profile acquisitions in the industry. The number of carriers that have deployed DWDM climbed from 75 in 1999 to 175 in 2000. The number of publicly announced contracts for DWDM will also approximately double from 75 in 1999 to an expected 150 this year.
    Such growth reflects the tremendous demand long-distance carriers face for transporting bandwidth. However, DWDM is filtering down the fiber network from the ultra-long-haul core ever closer to the end-user in metropolitan applications, access networks and enterprises. Vendors have begun to tailor the products to meet the demands of these various network segments. In 1998 long-distance products represented 95 percent of the market, but in 2000 they will account for 90 percent of the market.
    KMI is a fiber optics market research company. They provide reports on worldwide fiber optics markets, bimonthly newsletters, fiber optics route maps and conferences on global, regional and undersea fiber optics markets. KMI is located on America's Cup Avenue at 31 Bridge Street and can be reached by phone 401.849.6771, by fax 401.847.5866, by e-mail [email protected], and on the web www.kmicorp.com.