Ciena Finds Hyperscalers are Raising Wave Services Demand
The impact of AI and cloud evolution on wave services demand is rising, particularly as hyperscaler data centres are expected to continue booming before the end of 2025.
Ciena has released research on the subject examining wavelength services demand drivers, marking the first comprehensive analysis of this market segment.
The report examines the critical role of wave services in enabling the expansion of interconnected data centres driven by AI, the growing importance of low latency and data sovereignty for AI workloads and the build-out of terrestrial and critical submarine network infrastructure.
- From 2024 to 2029, growth in 400G circuits is set to soar, while 100G circuits will see a steady rise and 10G circuits will experience modest growth
It aims to highlight the pivotal role of managed optical fibre network (MOFN) business models to expand high-speed connectivity into new geographies and markets.
“As cloud providers scale data centre networks to address AI performance requirements, wave services must also evolve in terms of capacity, coverage, latency and route diversity,” says Mark Bieberich, Vice President of Portfolio Marketing at Ciena.
Hyperscaler growth fuels connectivity revolution
The total wave services circuits market in the US grew nearly 8% in 2024 and is projected to grow steadily through 2029, according to research by Vertical Systems Group.
The organisation observed an increasing use of wave services for cloud on-ramps, which the report says is demonstrated by the metro geographical scope (41%) and with the dominance of retail customers (58%).
Likewise, the research states that, from 2024 to 2029, growth in 400G circuits is set to soar, while 100G circuits will see a steady rise and 10G circuits will experience modest growth.
Mark explains: “Demand for wave services is growing steadily worldwide, as data centre network expansion requires increasingly high-capacity interconnection among various types of network operators and end users.”
Wave services provide the foundation for high-capacity networks, particularly when it comes to connectivity to or between data centres. These services aim to deliver high bandwidth, protocol transparency and low latency characteristics and can either act as end services or support higher-layer services.
Based on Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology, they enable massive data-transmission bandwidth over a fibre pair.
“Demand for wave services is growing steadily worldwide, as data centre network expansion requires increasingly high-capacity interconnection.”
Currently, wave services are dominated by 100G and 400G connections – there is still a high volume of 10G services deployed, but they are being upgraded to 100G at a steady pace.
This is partly on account of data centres being more under demand than ever before, leading to facilities needing to be more intricately connected.
Submarine cable growth supports emerging data centres
The report also looks at the growth of submarine cables, highlighting that a record 161,100 kilometres of submarine cables are planned to become ready for service (RFS) in 2025 – surpassing the previous high of 121,000 kilometers becoming RFS back in 2001.
It highlights how this growth could influence the data centre market in the near future, which hopes to enable businesses to strategise and maintain a competitive edge within the industry.
As demand for connectivity has increased, subsea cables have had to evolve to transport significant amounts of data across open water in seconds.
According to the Tele Geography Submarine Cable (SMC) in 2024, there are 559 cable systems worldwide that transmit more data satellites at a lower cost. Now, these cables carry roughly 95% of intercontinental internet traffic.
“With infrastructure expanding rapidly and resource constraints increasingly shaping growth, anticipating demand has never been more important,” Mark adds. “Network operators providing wave services can seize this moment by proactively routing new submarine cables to emerging data centres and innovating to address these challenges. Differentiation through greater route diversity, low-latency connectivity, and compelling managed services is key to staying ahead.”
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