Ovum-RHK expects global datacom optical components (OC) sales to grow at an 11% compounded annual growth rate from US$728mn in 2005 to US$1.34bn in 2011. Ethernet transceivers will lead the market growth, with the LAN market transitioning from 1 to 10Gbits/s and Fibre Channel transceivers in the storage market transitioning to 4Gbits/s and then 8Gbits/s. While 10 GigE switch ports are shipping today, real deployments of the most attractive opportunity over the long run-covering 300 meters on legacy multimode fibre - will not begin until 2008. This sub segment will continue to grow substantially even after 2011. Volume shipments of Fibre channel transceivers at 8Gbits/s will not begin until 2009. Notwithstanding these opportunities, component vendors are challenged with providing a cost-effective solution that meets the market demand.
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