TECH FOCUS: TEST & MEASUREMENT
TESTING TIMES
A look at the market for test and measurement equipment in the current climate, and some of the latest tools available
KEELY PORTWAY W
e all know that the world has been brought to a standstill in the past weeks and months due to the unprecedented situation
brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. Tose people who cannot work from home have been placed on furlough leave, many factories have shut down and only the children of key workers have been able to atend school. Other people have been lucky enough
to be able to work from home, and this is in no small way down to the telecoms industry. Broadband networks across the globe have
seen higher and higher data rates as people use the time to not only work from home, but also take online classes, learn new skills, catch- up with box-sets – the list goes on. To use an example from the UK alone,
industry watchdog Ofcom praised telecoms providers for working hard to ensure resilience across landline, broadband and mobile services as the demands on networks increase, as well as prioritising access to safety-of-life communications systems. Some telecoms providers, it said, have also taken specific steps to support their customers, such as providing unlimited calls or increased data allowances.
Telecoms engineers have been designated
as key workers, while providers are working together to monitor traffic on their networks. Of course, this cannot be undertaken without the right testing, monitoring and measurement equipment, and the demand for these kinds of essential tools was already looking healthy. Take the global market for optical time
domain reflectometers (OTDR) as an example. According to research firm, Technavio, this market is set to grow by $37.62m by 2023. Its latest report – Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) Market 2019-2023 – also details a concentration of the market, the degree of which is likely to decelerate during the forecast period. Te report cites investments in smart city projects as a key driver, with immense growth opportunities, and advises that, to make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments. Another key industry driver is the
deployment of PON services, which seem to show no sign of slowing down. A recently published report by analyst company, Dell’Oro Group placed the total global revenue for PON OLT equipment at $3bn last year, a 16 per cent increase from 2018. Tis was, said Dell’Oro, a ‘bright spot’ in 2019, which saw revenue declines in DSL and cable infrastructure. ‘Although 2019 was a challenging year for
broadband access equipment vendors, there are positive signs that operators are commited to 10G upgrades to support premium broadband services,’ explained Jeff Heynen, senior research director, broadband access and home networking at Dell’Oro. ‘Tere will be pockets of growth in 2020, but increased competition is needed to spur additional spending.’ Te company’s Broadband Access Quarterly Report also found that the total XGS-PON
24 FiBRE SYSTEMS n Issue 27 n Spring 2020
www.fibre-systems.com @fibresystemsmag
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