1:15 PM -- The global optical equipment market shrunk by 11 percent year-on-year during the first three months of 2009, but grew almost 30 percent in Asia/Pacific, according to research from Dell'Oro Group .

The research house reports that, for the first time in six years, Asia/Pacific was the largest regional market for optical gear during the quarter. Not surprisingly, China and India were responsible for the region's optical sales growth.

That, in turn, gave market share boosts to those vendors targeting those markets: Dell'Oro identifies ECI Telecom Ltd. , Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. , Tejas Networks India Ltd. , and ZTE Corp. (Shenzhen: 000063; Hong Kong: 0763) as vendors that gained market share compared with a year earlier.

The global market share leaders are Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), Nortel Networks Ltd. (when will someone buy Nortel's Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN) division?), and Fujitsu Ltd. (Tokyo: 6702; London: FUJ; OTC: FJTSY), according to Dell'Oro. (See Is Nortel M&A Near?)

— Ray Le Maistre, International News Editor, Light Reading