About Our Company

Our Analysis Team

Brad Smith: Senior Vice President

Latest Reports

Optical Communications Market Forecast: Tested by an Earthquake, a Tsunami and a Flood in 2011, the Industry is Poised to Navigate Well Through Macroeconomic Uncertainty in 2012-2015 (December 2011)

Abstract: The forecast report presents analysis of business and CapEx of the top 12 service providers, as well as trends in networking equipment market and business of leading equipment manufacturers. The report also offers a detailed forecast for optical components and modules... More information »

Storage Networking Report (September 2011)

Abstract: With 1 Gb Ethernet, users only accessed the local area network (LAN). They were able to access files (given the right security access) stored on the internal storage of servers or other clients, or they could access files through specialized network attached storage (NAS) devices... More information »

Market Update Report (September 2011)

Abstract: Sales of optical components and modules increased by more than 30% in 2010, raising concerns of a potential market bubble. Slow start for the market in early 2011 added fire to these speculations. however, current situation is very different from the market bubble... More information »

The State of the Optical Communications Industry: On a Path to Sustainable Profitability (July 2011)

Abstract: Valuations and profitability across the whole supply chain of the optical communication industry improved substantially in 2010. However, there is still a wide gap between companies like Google, which generate high profits taking advantage of the network at almost no charge, and the rest of the industry... More information »

The 100 Gbps Food Chain (June 2011)

Abstract: The development of DP-QPSK with coherent detection to support 100G DWDM line side transmission rates will prove to be a transformational technology in carrier networks. 100G will become the building block transmission rate for future networks, and as the first optical transmission technology based on digital signal processing, will ... More information »

Active Optical Cables 2011 (April 2011)

Abstract: Active optical cables (AOCs) emerged on the communications and consumer electronics scenes only very recently, the result of colloboration among key market players like IBM, Intel and Sun Microsystems to eliminate shortcomings in existing transceiver and copper interconnect solutions... More information »

10GBASE-T to Dominate Gigabit Ethernet...But When? (January 2011)

Abstract: 10GBASE-T (or IEEE 802.3an-2006) is the copper PHY (or Physical Layer) interconnect, which transforms logical data packets into raw bits that can be transmitted onto a wire, for 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) that the market has been waiting to mature and find the right... More information »

LightCounting is a 6 year old market research company focused on the in-depth study of high speed interconnects for the datacom, telecom, and consumer communications markets. Our research covers the whole supply chain from optical and semiconductor components, to modules and sub-systems and their application in telecom and datacom systems.

Our industry reputation was built by providing solid market data and objective analysis to help industry executives in making tactical and strategic business decisions and see past all the market hype, rumors, press, blogs and other distortions that so often complicate and confuse many decision making issues.

Our unique point of view comes from a focus on the actual ports deployed to construct global networks for datacom, telecom, FTTx and consumer markets.

Our analysis is rooted in our relationships with leading component, module and system suppliers that share confidential sales and shipment data with LightCounting. This enables LightCounting to portray an accurate view of the market. As a result, LightCounting is unique in that the company does not publish sensitive vendor market share data, but does publish extensive details and forecasts on technology and product segments. LightCounting sorts through the noise and "boils the ocean" down to the important actionable information. We confirm our analysis by communicating directly with suppliers and buyers at all levels of the "food chain" to create a 360 degree view of the products and end markets.

Our analyst team possesses a unique combination of industry, startup and market research experience and consists of industry veterans with expertise in optical components, optical systems, communication semiconductors, and network design, deployment and operation. Members of the team have raised millions of dollars in corporate and venture capital, and have taken companies from startup through IPOs and M&As. Our team has extensive executive-level operational experience at leading companies such as: Lucent, Intel, Broadcom, Fujitsu, TI, Tyco, Alcatel, Nexgen/AMD, ServerWorks/Broadcom, ServerEngines/Emulex, as well as previous industry and financial analyst experience with Gartner Group, Dataquest, IDC, and RHK and Prudential-Bache.

Publishing and analyzing information is time consuming. We encourage our clients to consider more than reports and build interactive, working relationships with the LightCounting analyst team.