CONTENTS
4 8
Industry News
John Williamson Putting FTTH to the Test
12 David Wang 14 Matthew Peach
Welcome to the last issue of Optical Connections of 2018. The end of the year is often a time for reflection, however new developments in optical communications in 2018 means the industry is keenly looking forward to the coming 12 months as progress and innovation continue in a variety of technologies and markets. Progress certainly came this year in the form of FTTH roll-outs, particularly across Europe, reaching almost 90% of households in some countries. However, keeping that fibre up and running will be a challenge for operators who will require a completely new set of tools to maintain those networks, given the fragility of fibre when compared to copper. Veteran technology journalist John Williamson takes a look at the test and measurement equipment needed to keep the light on. At the other end of the network, Antony Savvas looks at the latest developments in silicon photonics and the expected wide-scale adoption of photonic integrated circuits. In a similar vein, Matthew Peach examines the latest developments in the all-important electro-optical interface as new products begin to reach the market. In the data centre, the power consumption and physical footprint of transceivers are becoming critical issues. Optical Connections speaks to Brad Booth, chair of the COBO (Consortium for On- Board Optics) and principal network architect for Azure hardware at Microsoft, about the work the organisation is doing to develop low-power transceivers with a small, standardised footprint. On the subject of data centres, Wave2Wave’s founder and CEO David Wang, looks at the development of optical switching technologies and ways of automating the physical layer using robotics to automate data centre switching. New thinking and radical developments are also being applied to the long-distance cable industry. Corning’s market and technology development managers Dr. Hao Dong, and Dr. Sergejs Makovejs, explain how optical transmission technologies developed for submarine cables are being applied to terrestrial fibre networks. Of course, while all of these developments are completely changing the face of networks and the ways they operate, the software operating systems that make work more efficiently and offer new business models and opportunities need to evolve to keep pace. Optical connections spoke to Nokia’s senior marketing manager Scott Larrigan about the thinking behind the company’s newly-launched WaveSuite software which offers a unique, hierarchical approach to distributing optical capacity. 2018 has been a great year for the industry with an even more exciting time ahead, and Optical Connections will continue to bring you all the latest news and developments as we move into a new era of optical communication. In the meantime, The Optical Connections team would like to wish all our readers, advertisers and supporters a happy and prosperous 2019. Optical innovation to race ahead in 2019
Breaking the Fibre Barrier
Electro-Optical Interfacing Looks to the Future
16 Peter Dykes
The Graphene Revolution
18 Dr. Hao Dong, and Dr. Sergejs Makovejs Advanced Submarine Technology Goes Terrestrial 20 Brad Booth COBO: Transforming Transceiver Design 23 Peter Dykes Transforming Optical Transport Delivery 25 Peter Dykes Quantum Security 26 Peter Dykes
Innovation and Discussion at ECOC 2018
28 Christian Rookes
Next Generation FTTX PON In China
30 Antony Savvas
New Opportunities in Silicon Photonics
33 Peter Dykes 34 Event Focus 36 Product Focus
FTTH Expo Preview
Peter Dykes Contributing Editor, Optical Connections
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ISSUE 15 | Q4 2018
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