CONTENTS
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Industry News
Sophie Legault Optical Transceivers
11 Ellen Manning
It’s that time of year again. Autumn is fast approaching and with it comes ECOC 2019, the optical communication industry’s biggest European Conference and Expo. In this bumper 60-page issue we pick out some of the event highlights and look in depth at one of the biggest issues facing the industry at present – datacentre connectivity. It’s not just about connectivity within the datacentre anymore; the prospect of 5G and IoT rollouts is spawning datacentres of all sizes, from hyperscale to portable container-based datacentres in an attempt, among other things, to reduce latency at the user end. Indeed, bringing networks closer to the edge and deploying many smaller distributed data centres seems the most viable solution to the problem of latency, writes Huber + Suhner’s Andreas Sila. To begin with however, Sophie Legault, director, Transport & Datacom Business Unit at EXFO, looks at how in today’s hyperconnected world, data centres are truly at the heart of the network supporting exponential growth in optical speeds and feeds. Regular contributor Ellen Manning takes a look at how datacentre developments have impacted on cable and connector design as the fibre count goes up and the cables get smaller. Still on the subject of connectivity, Antony Savvas looks at the market arena around both the spread of hyperscale datacentre connectivity through the likes of AWS, Microsoft and Google, and distributed edge datacentres that will better support 5G, IoT, driverless cars and AI applications. Indeed, the rising fibre count is having implications in other parts of the industry, as MicroCare’s Jay Tourigny explains. Of course, the speed with which data can be transmitted is crucial and veteran journalist John Williamson explores what impact the introduction of 400G will have on the datacentre, while power constraints and interoperability are issues explored by five experts in a feature which looks at the progress of the Open ZR+ project. Also in this issue, Ciena’s Patricia Bower looks at two technologies underpin the electro-optical transmit and receive chains for today’s coherent systems: indium phosphide and silicon photonics. All this, plus the usual industry news and a look at past and upcoming industry events and a very personal conversation with Gemain Lamonde, EXFO’s founder and Executive Chairman, means there’s something for everyone in this issue. The jam-packed Product News section is full of products that visitors to ECOC 2019 will be able to see and discuss with their manufacturers as well as taking part in the many activities and discussions on o er in Dublin. I for one will be there for the whole show and I’m looking forward to meeting and greeting as many of our readers and supporters as time will allow. See you in Dublin! IT’S ALL ABOUT THE DATACENTRE
Fibre in the Datacentre
14 Germain Lamonde The View from EXFO 16 John Williamson 20 Jay Tourigny 22 Antony Savvas 26 Andreas Sila 28 Matthew Peach 32 Peter Dykes MOCA 34 Various Authors Open ZR+ 36 Patricia Bower 38 Peter Dykes 42 Peter Dykes 44 Peter Dykes AngaCom Wrap 46 Matthew Peach Bidirectional Testing ECOC 2019 Preview ECOC Market Focus 48 Connected Britain Wrap 50 IP Expo Preview 52 Broadband World Focus Preview 53 Product Focus High Fibre Count Cables Datacentre Connectivity Reducing Latency in 5G Networks
400G and the Datacentre
Coherent Optical Networks
Laser World of Photonics Wrap
Peter Dykes Contributing Editor, Optical Connections
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ISSUE 18 | Q3 2019
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