2021 Outlook: Optical & Packet Transport

2020 was a year like no other as COVID-19 resulted in supply chain slowdowns and increased bandwidth demand to support remote working. Creating forecasts for 2020 was uniquely challenging (see Cignal AI’s COVID-19 Impact – 2020 Forecast Update), and forecasting the expected return to normal by the end of 2021 is also very complex. This is a summary of Cignal AI’s current outlook for the year.

• A Return to Normal
  • Normal Buying Patterns
  • Normal Growth Returns
  • North American Optical Spending Normalizes
  • Normal Technology Acceptance
• Technologies and Trends to Watch in 2021
  • 3^rd and 5^th Generation Coherent Deployment Ramps Up
  • Wider Usage of Disaggregation
  • Access and Aggregation Strength Continues, the Core Refresh Cycle is Less Certain
  • Optical Networks Continue to Open and White Box Efforts Reappear
  • IP-over-DWDM Becomes an Option with Pluggable Coherent Optics