Summary
In general, with a ROADM from any supplier, such as Infinera, each has the same underlying fabric and they all offer the same functionality. The situation is reminiscent of the old SONET ADMs, such as for OC-48 and OC-192, in which ultimately there was little that differentiated one system from another. As a result, prices for ROADMs become the overriding factor in terms of any kind of differentiation.
Analysis
A large installed base of a particular vendor’s equipment at a service provider can give it a big upper hand because of the desire for systems to be compatible in order to ensure communication between all of the boxes.
Every supplier has the ability to do directionless (chaining more of them together) and
colorless (introducing tunable filters). These two features will be rolled out at different
rates depending on market adoption because of the huge cost with such additions. Some
network planners do not believe they bring much value because ultimately the carrier will
move to real-time mesh. In fact, the reason for the market movement for both colorless
and directionless is in preparation of the control plane, and it will represent the next
opportunity for a supplier to get a jump over the competition. However, any kind of
large use of mesh configurations is hardly around the corner.
With colorless, one can switch a wavelength to any other channel on any degree,
resulting in a lot more flexibility on the mesh. With directionless, regardless of where the
wavelength is coming in, one can still drop it even if for any reason one degree fails.
For more information on this topic, please see the latest issue in our Optical Switching/Transport Network Strategies Montly, “Will ROADMs Ultimately Cannibalize Optical Cross-connects?” The report can be purchased directly from GLG.
Samuel Greenholtz consults with leading institutions through GLG
Analyses are solely the work of the authors and have not been edited or endorsed by GLG.
