LightCounting Reports Transceiver Industry Needs Further Consolidation

EUGENE, OR--(Marketwire - April 7, 2008) - The future profitability of the optical transceiver industry remains uncertain despite steady growth in revenues, according to the 2008 State of the Transceiver Industry Report from LightCounting, the premier transceiver research company. Low margins and fierce competition amongst optical component and transceiver vendors, selling into a consolidated optical networking equipment market, continue to limit profitability.

"Sales of the top ten optical transceiver vendors accounted for more than 80% of the total market in 2007, though the market remains fiercely competitive," states Dr. Vladimir Kozlov, founder, LightCounting. "Fragmentation of the market and diversity of optical technologies are partly to blame for this situation. No one supplier has managed to gain a solid presence across the entire market, yet every single one is trying to diversify. Focusing production on fewer products to improve profitability may not be a bad idea, given the looming economic recession in the United States."

"To date the optical transceiver industry has been largely unaffected by the disruption among carrier and system vendors because the carriers' network transformations -- such as next-generation OSS, service delivery platforms and IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS) -- are taking place in the network layers above transport," noted Dr. Roy Rubenstein, research director, LightCounting. "Inevitably, such change must have an impact, and though years of downturn have left technology and industry resources spread thin, if anything, the importance of optical transceiver players as fundamental network enablers will only grow in coming years."

The State of the Transceiver Industry Report's coverage includes optical transceiver industry dynamics, optical transceiver market structure and the state of the telecommunications industry and its impact on the optical transceiver industry. The detailed examination of industry dynamics spans several market segments including SONET/SDH, Ethernet, Fibre Channel, WDM, FTTx transceivers, and optical interconnects. The report also discusses profitability and diversification of transceiver vendors, their key customers, and suppliers. The report analyzes industry consolidation with sales data reported by leading transceiver vendors, presents different scenarios for imminent industry consolidation, and offers guidance to vendors involved in this market.

About LightCounting

LightCounting is the premier optical transceiver market research company, offering transceiver market survey results and forecasts based on confidential and detailed data provided by more than 20 leading transceiver vendors. LightCounting's reports enable business executives, engineering, manufacturing, and sales/marketing professionals to plan business strategies using objective market information rather than speculative assumptions. Providing Semiannual Transceiver Sales Reports and Market Forecast Updates with Annual State of the Industry Reports and Technology Reviews, LightCounting is the optical transceiver market's information source.

Privately held, LightCounting is headquartered in Eugene, Oregon. For more information, please visit LightCounting at www.LightCounting.com or call 408.962.4851.

To purchase the "LightCounting State of the Optical Transceiver Industry Report" and any other research reports, please contact Megan Andreosky at megan@lightcounting.com, info@lightcounting.com, www.lightcounting.com, or call 408.962.4851.

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