Will EMEA market growth continue?

摘要

By all accounts, 2007 was the best year for optical networking equipment sales since 2001-and the Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) market led the way. The region last year accounted for 36% of all sales of optical networking equipment (a category that includes metro and long-haul gear, but not FTTH, for most analysis firms), according to Infonetics Research. EMEA edged out North America for the top spot by two percentage points. Ovum concurred with this assessment of the region's strength, putting sales for 2007 at $5 billion. This figure represented an increase of 35% over 2006 spending, according to the research firm. However, 2008 isn't off to an equally impressive start, at least when you compare revenues quarter-to-quarter. Seasonal slippage from the fourth quarter of one year to the first of the next is usually expected-but is that all that's behind the reduction in spending in 1Q08? According to sources at both Infonetics and Ovum, the final size of EMEA's appetite for optical equipment this year will depend on several factors.