The sales of Telecommunications Computing Architecture (xTCA) boards used for a variety of telecom platform deployments is forecasted to grow from $400 million in 2012 to just under $700 million in 2016, IMS Research recently revealed.

ATCA will account for 85 percent of the xTCA market in 2016, and it is expected to outsell PrAMCs by then.

ATCA mostly finds applications in communications-related circumstances, especially in telecom platform deployment scenarios. IMS Research estimates about 80 percent of ATCA board revenues comes from communications applications.

Further, the growth of the ATCA board market was also affected by the performance of the companies in this sector. For example, the performance of tier 1 European communication equipment providers was weak in 2011; consequently, ATCA board revenues contracted from 2010.

microTCA board revenues experienced strong growth between 2010 and 2011 in EMEA. The flexibility of these platforms has contributed to their increased popularity in other industry segments like military and transportation. microTCA has gained 50 percent of revenues from verticals other than communications. 

Thanks to the increasing growth of 4G deployments, ATCA boards will continue to grow strongly. The growing interest in advanced communications infrastructure and the investment in this segment have created a positive momentum for the ATCA market. As more providers offer 4G services, ATCA is poised to benefit.

According to the research, however, the outlook for telecom platform deployment standards like ATCA is uncertain beyond 2016. Today, the transition to 40 GB Ethernet is well underway; however, it remains to be seen if the standard will be able to offer features like support for multiple high-performance processors and 100 GB Ethernet that will become key purchasing criteria in the future.

A recent TMCnet piece identifies some of the latest and greatest trends for ATCA and network appliances that affect telecom platform deployment and involve a boost in infrastructure.According to NEI, a provider of telecom platform deployment solutions, carriers are making the decision to invest heavily in infrastructure to increase revenues and lower bid costs. As the adoption of more mobile devices takes place every day, the traffic growth is helping to push telecom platform deployment.

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