According to a recent technical market research report, Tunable Lasers - Global Strategic Business Report, network traffic witnessed an exponential increase over the last few years, driven by consumer and enterprise market trends including data centers, cloud computing, voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) and voice on demand (VOD) among others. Rising popularity of smart phones and social networking are also the prime reasons behind network traffic increase, ultimately leading to huge demand for network capacity expansion. Burgeoning network traffic mandated expansion of metro, long haul and access network infrastructure, stressing on the urgent need for tunability in networks and systems that comprised add/drop points. Tunable lasers capable of remotely reconfiguring networks serve to address the requirements for network capability expansion. Manufacturers are beginning to realize the potential for these laser types in metro network markets, whereby tunable lasers are expected to account for about 75% of all metro Transmitters in the near future. Competitive advantage, flexible tuning capabilities, deployment speed and cost control are some of the attributes that make tunable lasers invaluable for carriers of metro networks. In response to the demand for high speed and agile networks, the market for tunable lasers is slated to witness impressive growth.

Rising competition in the industry is likely to result in reduced prices of tunable lasers. Making profits out of new products is highly difficult in the intensely competitive tunable lasers market. Despite this, there has been a deluge of new tunable laser products over the past few years further enhancing market competition and product quality. Global tunable XFPs market is increasingly being viewed as the next big growth opportunity by module vendors. The technology is one of the major buzzwords in the industry, and several laser manufacturers have already jumped into the fray and are expected to roll out new products in the near term. Medical applications of tunable lasers are also poised to grow at an impressive pace, primarily driven by their wide application areas. These systems are currently being employed for various therapeutic and diagnostic applications in the medical industry and are likely to gain extensive usage in diagnosing and treating several complex heart related diseases in future. Demand for laser based facial and skin rejuvenation treatments, particularly fractional CO2 laser-resurfacing treatment will also accelerate the growth of carbondioxide lasers, a type of tunable lasers. Advances in nanotechnology and chemistry that expand applications of optics in the medical arena are expected to further push the boundaries for tunable lasers.

However, despite the inherent benefits, tunable lasers have largely failed to take off as anticipated even after a decade of their launch in the market. Main reason could be poor performance of the early predecessors, which did not meet industry specifications. Despite acceptable levels of performance, the devices continue to be hobbled by concerns related to costs, supply guarantees and reliability. Network providers are currently looking at tunable laser solutions that are priced not higher than fixed wavelength lasers, while simultaneously delivering high reliability and performance.

Europe and North America dominate the worldwide markets for tunable lasers, as stated by the new market research report on Tunable Lasers. The Asian region, encouraged by extensive demand from Japan, China, India, Taiwan and other emerging markets, is projected to forge ahead at a robust CAGR of about 30% through 2017.

The global tunable lasers market is intensely competitive with hectic M&A activity, consolidations, technology transfers and strategic partnerships fast becoming the norm. Key market participants profiled in the report include, Agilent Technologies Inc, Coherent Inc, Continuum, Daylight Solutions, Inc, EMCORE Corporation, Finisar Corp, Fujitsu Optical Components Limited, JDS Uniphase Corporation, NEC Corporation, NeoPhotonics Corporation, Oclaro, Inc., Santec Corporation, Santur Corporation, Yenista Optics SA, among others.

This report provides a comprehensive review of industry overview, trends and issues, growth drivers, end-use markets, product overview, technological developments, recent industry activity and profiles of market players worldwide. Analysis and overview is provided for major geographic markets such as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of World in volume (unit) terms. The study also provides historic data for an insight into market evolution over the period 2003 through 2008.

Details of the report, table of contents and ordering information can be found on Electronics.ca Publications' web site. View the report: Tunable Lasers - Global Strategic Business Report