Microwave equipment sales were $4.9 bln in 2008, up 23%, TDM/Ethernet dual mode is the major trend

[marketwire] Market research firm Infonetics Research recently released its Microwave Equipment market size, market share, and forecast report. The report, which is now published quarterly, tracks access and backhaul/transport PDH/SDH microwave equipment and Ethernet and dual Ethernet/TDM microwave equipment. Highlights from the report follow.

ANALYST NOTE

"The big trend in the microwave equipment market is the transition from TDM to Ethernet. Microwave enables mobile operators to make phased upgrades of their backhaul networks from TDM-only to hybrid TDM/Ethernet systems to packet-based all-Ethernet solutions in the future. This offers a scaleable and cost-effective roadmap for managing the escalating bandwidth demands driven by the mobile broadband boom, and future 4G deployments. Typically, operators will keep legacy TDM microwave for another 5-10 years to support 2G/3G voice whilst deploying Ethernet for growing volumes of data traffic," said Richard Webb, Directing Analyst - WiMAX, Microwave, and Mobile Devices - Infonetics Research

REPORT HIGHLIGHTS

-- Worldwide microwave equipment sales hit $4.9 billion in 2008, up 23%
from the previous year
-- Despite a tough macroeconomic climate, mobile operators continue to
invest in mobile backhaul to accommodate rapidly rising mobile broadband
traffic -- the primary driver behind strong microwave equipment market
growth
-- Dual TDM/Ethernet equipment makes up the bulk of microwave backhaul
equipment, enabling mobile operators to continue to support TDM for voice
traffic and simultaneously leverage the higher capacity capabilities of
Ethernet to manage the exponential growth in data traffic
-- Microwave is increasingly used as an access technology in developing
countries where there is more frequently a dearth of viable wireline access
alternatives for enterprises and organizations with growing bandwidth needs
-- Ericsson and NEC are in a neck-and-neck battle for the lead in the
fast growing microwave equipment market in 2008
-- A secondary technology trend of the microwave market is the transition
from point-to-point (P2P) to point-to-multipoint (P2MP) architectures,
which enable cost-saving benefits

Infonetics Research: Microwave equipment market hits $4.9 billion in 2008, led by Ericsson and NEC