Fiber Optic Connectors

Report Highlights

• Network applications category is the largest, and is predicted to grow at an average annual rate of 0.6% between 2000 and 2005. The large increase between 1999 and 2000 represents the final surge in the optical communications boom of the late 1990s. In the second half of 2001, the optical communications market slowed almost to a halt.
• Connectors used in medical applications represent the second largest category; however, the growth rate predicted is much lower. The lower growth rate reflects both expected declines in connector prices, as well as uncertainty regarding the insurance industry.
• Transportation revenues in 1999 and 2000 are less than $10,000. Rapid growth projected in the five-year period considered in this report still results in revenues of less than $500,000. Rounding errors introduced in the table format create apparent discrepancies in the growth rate calculations. All markets are analyzed in depth within the body of the report.

INTRODUCTION

STUDY GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

These BCC study analyzes the status of the fiber optic connector markets. The primary market for fiber optic connectors is the optical network application. Fiber optic connectors are a critical component in optical networks. Optical networks transmit voice and data across country and around the world.

Growth in the fiber optic connector market is linked directly to the expansion of fiber optic networks in the world. This report considers market conditions and opportunities in regional areas around the globe.

This report provides a standard five-year planning cycle, and revenue estimates through 2005. It defines products segments for fiber optic connector technology categories, analyzes technology options, determines current application markets, as well as likely future opportunities. Additionally, this report defines and graphically analyzes these fiber optic connector markets from many perspectives, categorizes and profiles the companies involved, defines unique nomenclature, and police organizations, conferences, authors and consortiums.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF STUDY AND FOR WHOM

The world's economic system is dependent upon its ability to communicate and transmit both voice and data information. Networks of optical fiber span continents and circle the globe making this communication possible. The rapid expansion in use of the Internet drives the broader optical market, including fiber-optic connectors.

This BCC study reviews and reveals major market trends, and provides a snapshot of the present, along with predictions for the future of fiber optic connector markets and technologies.

AUDIENCE FOR REPORT

Network system integrators will use this report to assess the status of the fiber optic connector market to identify suppliers and systems integrators and forecasts the future markets. Market managers will be able to assess the competition and identify customers and new suppliers for components. Management consultants will determine whether companies divest or invest in fiber optic technology based in part on the market projections, competitive strengths and development issues revealed in this report.

Equipment managers will develop or modify existing products to address the fiber optic technology manufacturing concerns emphasized in this report. Material suppliers will identify market opportunities and new customers based on the study's projected growth in applications. Venture-capital managers will identify targets for investment, merger or acquisition based on companies identified and described in this report. Strategic planners will identify other companies with critical strains to strategically partner with so they can share in the overall fiber optic technology growth as projected in this report.

SCOPE AND FORMAT OF REPORT

This BCC opportunity report covers, with a critical eye, the fiber optic connector marketplace. It focuses particularly on the markets and opportunities for fiber optic connectors in optical networking, transportation, lighting, sensors and medical markets.

This study is presented in easy to follow sections that overview this subject, define the technology, segment the market by product type and application, profiles companies, and identify suppliers. All dollar amounts are expressed in current 2000 U.S. dollars.

This is a complete source for serious players in the fiber optic connector marketplace.

METHODOLOGY AND INFORMATION SOURCES

Materials and data presented in this report were obtained from telephone interviews with marketing and engineering personnel at the major companies profiled, as well as from catalogs, the Internet, patterns, and the literature search of current articles related to fiber optic connector technology.

ANALYSTS CREDENTIALS

The author received a Ph.D. in material science and engineering from the University of Arizona in 1993, based on a dissertation on the fabrication and characteristics of sol gel optical waveguides. She then worked for two years at Sandia National Labs on the development of thin film zeolite filters for gas separation applications. Since 1996, she has covered the transportation market as both a contributing editor, and editor of Advanced Transportation Technology News.