R&D magazine thinksthat now, “ten years since the telecom bubble burst, we may be about to witness another boom in sales of optical components for communications infrastructure.”

Analysts at photonic market forecasters Lightcounting say there’s a “strong demand for optical components and modules.” As R&D notes, demand is a pretty good indicator of market recovery – “components are ordered in advance of widespread system deployment.”

Lightcounting’s David Crozier says governments are upgrading and expanding their communications infrastructure: “Concerned about the future impact of a hobbled infrastructure, governments in the U.S., China, India and elsewhere are investing to support the growth of their national communications infrastructure, and jump-starting a new investment cycle.”

In fact, Lightcounting says, “the industry momentum is clearly positive in 2010,” despite what R&D calls “only modest growth in sales of telecom networking equipment.” Lightcounting attributes sales of datacom systems picking up 2010 to businesses re-starting upgrade projects delayed by the economic downturn.

According to Lightcounting’s forecast, “sales of optical transceivers in 2010 will increase 16 per cent on the 2009 figure, to reach $2.4 billion. Sales of Ethernet and Fiber Channel modules will increase at a similar rate, as will those for dense-wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) transceivers.”

The impact of all that demand “should be very positive for suppliers of both active and passive optical components,” R&D says, “including ROADMs (reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers), pump lasers and amplifiers, sales of which are already growing well ahead of the overall market in 2010.”

The magazine quotes Crozier saying “This suggests that a new cycle in infrastructure upgrades may be starting now, since these devices are typically used in the early stages of network installations,”

The Lightcounting predictions jibe with recent financial results from some companies supplying optical components and modules for the telecom and datacom markets, R&D says: “Over the past 18 months – since its merger with Avanex -- Oclaro (formerly Bookham (News - Alert)) has seen quarterly revenues grow from close to $70 million to well in excess of $100 million.”

Not only that, the journal says, Oclaro “has also expanded its reach into the industrial and medical markets recently, following its acquisition of the Tucson-based Newport Spectra-Physics laser diode business in July 2009 -- where the company has just opened a new design center.”