The 100G module market is taking off and the competition is becoming more intense

Data show that from 1990 to the present, the average annual growth rate of Internet traffic has exceeded 40%, exceeding the growth rate of optical communications, and if major changes are not made, it will cause a capacity crisis
in the next few years.
As the direction of technological innovation and network upgrade, 100G has been pushed to the cusp of the times and has been widely accepted
worldwide.

At the 2013 OFC/NFOEC (American Fiber Optic Communications Show), 100G products were ubiquitous and became the focus
of the entire exhibition.
Nowadays, the industry has recognized that 2013 is the first year of commercial use
of 100G in China.
In 2013, China Mobile kicked off the prelude to China's 100G centralized procurement, and the overall situation of domestic 100G optical network equipment gradually entered a climax period with the intensive deployment of the three major operators, which raised 100G commercial to a higher level and officially opened the "golden decade"
of the 100G market in the future.

100G Operator Centralized Procurement Brings "Golden Decade"

In mid-April 2013, China Mobile announced the "2013 OTN Equipment Centralized Procurement Winning Results", in which Huawei and Fiberhome won the bid for the national cadre part, Huawei and Shanghai Bell won the bid for the 100G OTN part in the province, and Shanghai Bell, Fiberhome and ZTE won the bid for the 10G OTN part
in the province.
In October, China Mobile's 2013 100G OTN equipment collection and supplementary procurement results were released, and ZTE and Fiberhome won the bid
.
The results of this supplementary procurement mean that the four major optical network manufacturers of Huawei, ZTE, Shanghai Bell and Fiberhome have all entered the list of 100G suppliers of China Mobile, and the 100G industry structure is also more stable
.
Since the second half of 2012, China Mobile has launched centralized procurement of 100G OTN equipment, aiming to build the world's largest 100G backbone network
.
Previously, China Mobile's 100G OTN centralized procurement scale prediction roadmap was: 1500 boards in 2013, 3000 boards in 2014, and 6000 boards in 2015, but this is only a conservative estimate
.

In November 2013, China Telecom launched a large-scale 100G tender, and the results of centralized procurement have been released
.
The winning manufacturers were Huawei, Fiberhome, ZTE and Shanghai Bell, of which Huawei and Fiberhome won the majority share
.
China Telecom's 100G centralized procurement of nearly 3,000 boards is the world's largest 100G centralized procurement
in 2013.
According to information from equipment vendors, China Telecom has decided to stop the new construction
of 40G in the backbone network.

In addition, in 2013, overseas manufacturers are also actively deploying 100G, such as Hutchison Telecom deploying 100G in Hong Kong, Telefónica deploying 100G, etc.
, and mainstream telecom operators around the world are actively deploying 100G networks
.

The 100G module market is taking off and the competition is becoming more intense

In 2012, the global 10G/40G/100G optical transceiver market increased by 10% to $1.
63 billion, and it is expected that 100G optical transceiver shipments will more than double in 2013 and double again in 2014
.
The global optical transceiver market, which includes 10G, 40G and 100G transceivers, grew 10% in 2012 to $1.
63 billion
.

The advent of the second generation of pluggable optical interfaces has brought 100G networks for data centers and other enterprise applications to the mainstream market
.
At this stage, the long-distance development of 100G has stabilized, and equipment manufacturers have begun to experiment with 400G solutions
.
The all-important 80-500km metro 100G market is taking off rapidly as
equipment vendors begin to offer products that combine pluggable CFP developed for enterprise networks and direct detection and coherent technology products developed for long-haul markets.

Equipment suppliers, chip developers, and optical component suppliers face significant challenges
in the need for 100G interfaces.
CFP4 and QSFP28 modules provide significantly higher density for networked systems, but at the same time require highly integrated components
.
There are now device vendors planning to launch CFP4 and QSFP28 modules
in 2014.
Semiconductor and optical module manufacturers continue to rapidly introduce new 100G interface products
with better performance and higher integration.
The high development costs required for these products mean that few vendors offer complete solutions
across different technologies.

In terms of chips, at OFC2013, large foreign companies exhibited 100G chip products
.
NTT Electric launched a 100G single-chip low-power OTN processor; PMC launched a 120G single chip that can support 10G/40G/100G rates simultaneously to achieve OTN transmission, aggregation and switching
.
FPGA manufacturer Xilinx Corporation (Xilinx) demonstrated the application of 100G FPGA, and its 10×10G multiplexed transponder is fully used in 100G OTN solutions
.
ClariPhy and Sumitomo Electric demonstrated a 100G coherent CFP technology platform, including ClariPhy's 28nm CMOS process ADC/DAC chip
.
Mindspeed released a quad-channel CDR clock and data recovery chip that can transmit 28G and support 100G Ethernet transmission
.
Altera introduces the industry's first 32-Gbps transceiver based on leading-edge 20 nm devices capable of interfacing directly with 100G CFP2 optical modules to support higher port densities
.

Among them, on December 18, 2013, semiconductor developer MACOM Corporation announced the completion of the acquisition of part of Mindspeed Technologies' assets for $272 million in cash, realizing the expansion
of its 100G product line from long-distance drivers to a full range of ICs for 100G optical transceivers.
Notably, Mindspeed has an annual output value of $132 million
.

In the layout of the industrial chain, foreign companies have taken the lead
.
Cisco has developed its own 100Gbit/s transceiver in the CPAK package
.
On January 8, 2014, Finisar, a manufacturer of optical components and subsystems, acquired U2t Photonics, a German developer of indium phosphide (InP)-based receivers and photodetectors
, for approximately $20 million in cash.
Finisar said the acquisition will enhance the company's coherent transmission technology
.
U2T's annual sales revenue last year was about $33 million
.
In recent years, the company has been a leading supplier of high-speed receiver technology, including applications
ranging from 40Gbps to coherent 100Gbps.
The company has also begun research and development of technologies with speeds of
400Gbps and above.

On January 6, 2014, JDSU completed its acquisition of Network Instruments for $200 million in cash
.
The acquisition opens up more than $1 billion in new enterprise network, cloud and data center markets for JDSU, expands JDSU's high-margin software-based solutions, and creates new growth opportunities
for network tool offerings for carrier markets.
Surprisingly, Network Instruments only has about $40 million in annual revenue, so what prompted JDSU to buy a network equipment company at a high price?

All of this means more competition
.
At present, global leaders such as Avago, Finisar, JDSU, NeoPhotonics and Occaro are competing for the 100G market
.
That is, in the 100G era, the competition in technology has begun, and the competition among suppliers has long been intense
.