BT replacing fibre with copper

By Pauline | Published: September 3, 2009

File this one under “makes no sense”. While Openreach has been building trial networks for fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) and fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC), it has also been overlaying copper on fibre access networks built back in the 1990s.

The legacy technology, called TPON (a term I hadn’t come across until today) was originally installed in outlying housing estates that were often a long way from the main telephone exchange.

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Digital Britain: how does the UK really compare?

By Pauline | Published: September 2, 2009

“Digital Britain disappoints” and “Digital dithering from a dated Government”: two hardly unique headlines in the media immediately after the release of the Digital Britain report, which is supposed to be the UK’s blueprint for a digitally connected future.

But how does Britain really stand up in the international league tables of broadband ambition? Well, for a kickoff, it’s worth pointing out that there are two completely separate targets: a universal service commitment of 2 Mbps by 2012; and delivery of “superfast broadband” (whatever that might be) to 90% of the households by 2017.

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Pauline 2.0

By Pauline | Published: August 3, 2009

A funny thing is happening to the world of fibre-optics. With governments around the globe talking up the benefits of a digital economy — regardless of whether they’re prepared to put their money where their mouth is — fibre has suddenly become a hot topic. Municipal broadband projects, fibre for rural areas and digital inclusion are now hitting the mainstream news headlines on a weekly basis.

The internet is changing society in ways we barely imagined even 10 years ago, let alone 20. In the words of the Digital Britain report, “…We are at a tipping point in relation to the online world. It is moving from conferring advantage on those who are in it to conferring active disadvantage on those who are without.”

But while the internet gives, it also takes away. The online world has wrought big changes in advertising, the upshot of which is that many print publications are struggling. One of the recent casualties was FibreSystems Europe, a business magazine about the fibre-optics industry in Europe, where I worked in my first job as a trainee journalist, returning in January 2008 to be its editor.

So now it’s time to invent the next phase of my life. I’m writing this blog to a) keep my hand in while I build up my freelance work and b) provide comment on some of the issues around fibre-optics where I feel that I can make a contribution to the debate. I plan to write about optical components and systems as well as fibre-to-the-home. Older posts contain recent work published on other websites.

I hope my ramblings will be of interest to a few people out there. Let me know when you like something, we all need a little encouragement sometimes. Equally, please let me know if I get it wrong, I’m always willing to learn.

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The 40G market embarks upon a 'golden age'

By Pauline | Published: July 8, 2009

This article originally appeared on fibresystems.org.

The market for 40 Gbit/s optical transport equipment is growing strongly and looks set to enjoy a five-year period of deployment opportunity before the 100 Gbit/s market gets into full swing, according to industry analysts.

The latest figures from research firm Dell’Oro indicate that worldwide revenues for 40 Gbit/s equipment are expected grow at a combined annual growth rate of 35%, reaching a market size of $1.2 billion by 2013.

“While the overall worldwide optical market declined 20% sequentially and 11% year-over-year mainly due to the effects of the global economy, the 40G market has shown continued growth and strength with a 1Q09 increase of 8% sequentially and 400% year-over-year,” said Jimmy Yu, optical market analyst, Dell’Oro.

And about time too. Early 40 Gbit/s implementations first appeared in 1999, some 10 years ago, and the technology has been through four product generations. In contrast, 100 Gbit/s technology is enjoying significant operator and vendor interest even though it is still in its first generation.

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NSN, Juniper pick up the IPoDWDM baton

By Pauline | Published: July 2, 2009

This article originally appeared on fibresystems.org.

WDM NICE, 2009 — Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and Juniper Networks seem to be forging an ever closer relationship. Having recently joined forces to sell Carrier Ethernet equipment, the pair are now working together to integrate IP routing with WDM equipment — a concept called IP-over-DWDM or just IPoDWDM.

This development aligns Juniper’s strategy more closely with that of Cisco Systems, which originally introduced IPoDWDM about three and a half years ago.

Juniper is bringing IP router expertise to the party, while NSN is providing its optical transport solution, and operational systems for both technologies. The aim is “to enable seamless interworking between IP and optical networks to improve network efficiency and reduce operator opex”.

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Zero touch optical networks: a progress report

By Pauline | Published: July 1, 2009

This article originally appeared on fibresystems.org.

WDM NICE 2009 — GMPLS and network automation were one of the key trends being discussed at IIR’s WDM & Next- Generation Optical Networking conference in Nice last week.

GMPLS emerged as a new control plane technology for optical networks almost 10 years ago, but it’s still a roadmap item for most ROADM vendors, according to Geoff Bennett, Infinera’s director of strategic marketing.

The ability to add new capacity quickly is often praised by Infinera’s customers, and to back up its point the vendor parked its GMPLS demo right outside the conference venue.

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Interview: Karel Helsen, FTTH Council Europe

By Pauline | Published: June 10, 2009

This article originally appeared on fibresystems.org.

Karel Helsen

Karel Helsen is a busy man. Not only does he run the broadband communications business at fibre maker Draka, but he has just taken on a new job as the president of the FTTH Council Europe for the next two years. Hailing from Amsterdam, a city that’s often viewed as the showcase for fibre-to-the-home in Europe, Helsen appears to have the perfect credentials for the job. But what exactly does he have to do? Pauline Rigby finds out.

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From the show floor: CIP

By Pauline | Published: March 25, 2009

This article originally appeared on the fibresystems.org blog.

If there’s one company I look forward to talking to, it’s the UK’s Centre for Integrated Photonics (CIP), because they always seem to have something interesting going on. At ECOC last September, CIP wowed attendees with its demonstration of a 32-channel multi-wavelength laser. The component contained two 16-channel laser arrays, with each channel being directly modulated.

This device is aimed at WDM-PON applications, where a single transmitter could replace 32 separate devices and a modulator, allowing all the optics at the PON headend to be collapsed down onto a single linecard. One of the benefits of GPON and EPON technologies is that they simplify fibre management and economize on equipment space in the central office; the multi-wavelength laser could bring both of those benefits to WDM-PON equipment.

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Amsterdam Citynet scores a home run for fibre

By Pauline | Published: February 4, 2009

This article originally appeared in FibreSystems Europe magazine Dec 2008/Jan 2009 p16.

Amsterdam’s municipal fibre network has become a showcase for fibre-to-the-home in Europe. Pauline Rigby took a trip to the Dutch capital to see how the build out is progressing.

Amsterdam

In a secret location in an Amsterdam basement, the world’s largest POP (point of presence) has just been commissioned. With more than 13,000 individual fibres entering the site, and space for multiple service providers to install their broadband equipment, you might expect the POP to occupy a large physical area. In reality, the room is about the size of a classroom, and the 13,000 fibres are four bunches of cables that a person could almost encircle with their hands. It’s the modern equivalent of the old copper telephone exchange — but it takes up about one fifth of the space.

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Intel's silicon detector is a runaway success

By Pauline | Published: December 8, 2008

This article originally appeared on fibresystem.org.

For some years now, Intel has been looking for a way to “siliconize” photonics. The chip giant wants to build optical devices on a silicon substrate to drive the manufacturing process to higher volumes and lower cost. Now the company says it has made a breakthrough in one of the key components that would be required — a silicon-based optical detector.

Intel has added germanium to silicon to create an avalanche photodiode (APD) that is better at detecting high-speed, low-intensity signals than existing devices. The results have been published in the journal Nature Photonics.

“This is the first time that a silicon photonics device has better performance than any recorded performance from an equivalent device in III-V materials, specifically indium phosphide,” claims Mario Paniccia, Intel fellow and director of the company’s photonics technology lab.

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