ELLEN MANNING FIBRE MANAGEMENT
back to a known configuration at any time, that provides a quantum step up in terms of capability in their network managements.” When it comes to beneficial by- products of fibre management systems, ROME’s ability to track network configurations isn’t the only one. Developments in high density solutions are also tackling other issues like aesthetics, says Zammit. “Let’s say you’re in an urban metropolitan downtown area and you need to serve some of these small cells at top of light poles. One of the biggest issues service providers have is getting approval to put all this new hardware up. Nobody likes to see these unattractive boxes and antennas, so by bringing high density solutions, those additional ports that you’re putting in can be substantially smaller, maybe less obtrusive visually.” It means vendors can effectively repackage technologies developed for data centres for other parts of the network from 5G to small cell and fibre-to-the-home, he said. Go!Foton is debuting a new product specifically for that purpose at this year’s OFC. “We’ve taken PEACOC and put it into a very compact, cylindrical enclosure that can be mounted onto existing strand and serve fibre to the customer, whether that’s a residential customer, a small antenna on a light pole, or any of these other numerous types of sensors. Think about the IoT environment - every traffic light, camera, street light - a lot of it is going to have a fibre going to it and you need to connect it to the network at some point.” KEEPING IT CHEAP The work in this area is ongoing. For Ellis, it’s the beginning of a strong uplift in technology like ROME, which finally provides a scalable solution at a manageable price. “We’re bringing a solution to market where the cost is orders of magnitude per port cheaper, the optical characteristics are exceptionally good and we are
doing it in a very efficient way, so we’re giving all of that flexibility, all of that management, all of the auditing and visibility but we’re not charging the earth for it.” And for those who might be reticent to invest in this area, the implications of ignoring the issue are large, warn experts. David Rifkin, product category manager – datacom at Hellermann Tyton, which offers a series of indoor and outdoor enclosures including its RapidNet solution, says while many fibre connectors seem to have many years of service in them, the increase in fibres means continued development is necessary. “The easier it is to protect, route and re-commission these fibres will be the key to supporting reliable networks in the future,” he says. “With many of the traditional and larger copper solutions being replaced with compact, higher bandwidth and longer lasting fibre solutions, the way these are being connected needs to be a major focus to eliminate premature replacement or field failures requiring full replacement.” NO END TO IT For Zammit, there are “tremendous” implications if thought isn’t put into how networks are grown. “There really is no end and the continual need to put more and more fibre into the ground, this whole 5G, small cells, it is just exacerbating the whole issue. First it was fibre to the home and now the number of antennas in any urban or residential area is growing exponentially. And sure, it’s all wireless to the end device, but those wireless devices need to get back onto the network and the existing facilities are already at saturation.” He concludes, “You have a choice of either continue to dump more money into more rack space, more facilities, new pedestals and enclosures, or you try to evolve your existing fibre infrastructure to be able to more densely reconfigure the way you access the network. And that’s what these high-density solutions are intending to do.”
on the smallest footprint possible and you can add different modules for splice application, pure patch application, transition modules and conversion modules,” says Silas. “It all depends what kind of backbone cabling or horizontal cable you have that forces you to use different kinds of modules. It’s futureproof - as soon as demand changes, they don’t have to remove the wall distribution panel, you only remove a very small panel.” At Go!Foton, its PEACOC high-density patch panel is one way of dealing with densification, tackling the difficulties faced by technicians monitoring or maintaining the network. By spreading out the optical fibres, PEACOC allows technicians to reach the ones they need - something they physically can’t do due to the sheer volume of cables. “It allows or creates that additional space for access,” says Zammit. AUTOMATING CONNECTIVITY While Software Defined Networking is the watchword across much of the industry, one area where it has always been difficult to automate the network is the physical connectivity. At Wave2Wave, its ROME switches are providing the answer. “If you think of the old patch panel where an engineer would walk up with a patch lead and plug one end into one port and the other into another port, what we now have is a robotic unit that can join those two ports together optically,” explains Duncan Ellis, director EMEA, Wave2Wave. “That allows us to dynamically reconfigure the network, to change connections, add in more capacity, change the path, all of those things we wanted to do before, from anywhere in the world.” That in itself sounds beneficial, but according to Ellis it’s another bonus that is winning people over - ROME’s database system. While record-keeping can make it difficult to keep track of network configurations, ROME tells you exactly what is connected to what. “ROME has a fully-integrated database system that keeps a record of every connection that’s made, those connections that are current and those that are historical,” says Ellis. “So, another area where ROME brings huge value is I can now query my network, I can see the live connectivity, I can record that, I can make changes and if I need to roll back I can fall back to a known configuration because I’ve got all the records. “This is an area where we’re getting a huge amount of interest and the automation is almost a ‘well that’s a nice to have, but I really want it because I can now see what my network configuration is’.” That kind of thing is especially useful for big data centre players, says Ellis. “The ability to see what connections are in place, which ports are connected to which, how the network is configured and then make quick changes and roll
You have a choice of either continue to dump more money into more rack space, more facilities, new pedestals and enclosures, or you try to evolve your existing fibre infrastructure
MICHAEL ZAMMIT VP AND GM OF CONNECTIVITY SOLUTIONS AT GO!FOTON
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| ISSUE 16 | Q1 2019
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