“Unlike the Asia Pacific region, due to a market situation in mainly the private enterprise and telecommunications end-user sectors, both the American and EMEA regions are forecast for negative consumption value this year (2012) -- however, recovering in 2013 and beyond,” said Stephen Montgomery, director of the fiber optic component group at ElectroniCast.

But the overall trend remains up. As optical fiber use migrates closer and closer to the end user, where cable lengths are shorter with higher fiber counts, the requirements for joining fibers becomes more critical. “Fiber optic connectors (and mechanical splices) play a significant role in a network’s cost and performance and they are increasingly used in applications where flexibility for routing or reconfiguring is necessary,” Montgomery said.