NICK NAUGHTON INDIGO Q&A
For the access layers, the requirement is to pack as much as you can into a compact space. There will be huge fibre requirements in urban metropolitan areas in general, and that’s just for the 5G access parts. When you start putting in other layers, like smart city applications, smart grids, autonomous vehicles and whatever the killer app will be for 5G, fibre is needed to support the technology.
Does replacing an existing copper network present any particular planning challenges? Obviously, the build and the initial rollout cost is massive, but where possible we try to use the existing
headquarters in Wales. There we identify the required environments, production development, tests, training, redundant mechanisms, and disaster recovery. There is a huge amount of expertise in-house.
network. You can use point to multipoint, fibre topologies and fibre protocols to support that on the transport end, so there’s not much change there, you just need to make sure you futureproof that as well, so that you can replace your fibre every 25 years or indeed upgrade with higher counts. And again, that’s where the whole bundled microduct technology comes in. But certainly, for the access layers, the requirement is to pack as much as you can into a compact space. There will be huge fibre requirements in urban metropolitan areas in general, and that’s just for the 5G access parts. When you start putting in other layers, like smart city applications, smart grids, autonomous vehicles and whatever the killer app will be for 5G, fibre is needed to support the technology.
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Do you provide on-going maintenance such as component replacement and testing, as a
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infrastructure. The thinking with most of the communication providers, including the Altnets, is to use existing infrastructure where possible. There is a programme of rationalising the existing copper network as well, whereby you can raise a network adjustment, for example with BT, to remove the old lines. The cost is a big challenge, with break-even time and Total Cost of Ownership is a big consideration. Technically, on full-fibre networks you’re not delivering power so one of the big factors to consider is the 50 volts circuit that runs across the copper lines which acts as an emergency power supply, meaning when the power cuts, the phone line never goes down. That needs to be considered when the PSTN is switched off and fibre will take over with battery backup to the IP phones. It’s essential that homes and businesses have that resiliency.
network management service?
NN Yes, all of above, everything from first-line management and on all tiers. In strategic places from the UK to Southern Africa and across the EMEA region, we operate fault management, maintenance operations and parts replacement, including the teams with vans and warehousing with a stock of everything. We also provide data collection and asset management, and we can map the networks and are able to tie all these pieces together and work with vendors to make sure that the passive and physical network assets are speaking to the network management software.
Do you get involved in planning things like the OSS, or is that a customer issue? Typically, we don’t, because the customer normally will have their OSS and BSS sorted out by the
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What types of networks are most in demand at present?
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time they engage with us. We do however, have the expertise in-house to talk on that level with our clients, and we realise fully the importance of it in recording the network, fault managing the assets and being able to do things such as inventory, operations and maintenance on the network, as well as how that supports that whole billing part. I can think of one operator at the moment we’re starting up with where we provided some information on the network inventory software and processes that they might onboard, but it’s not our niche area. On the Indigo side, we’re quite engaged with the CSP in how they establish accounts, access rights, so that we’ll be able to manage the OSS hardware over the operator’s network. We have a NOC in our Magor
Are there any major differences between planning a basic transport or access network and
Currently, the fibre operators are experiencing a large demand, so we have found lots of new
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5G or IoT networks?
Opportunities and have thankfully initiated many new contracts in recent times. My area of expertise is in fibre networks and I’ve visibility of what’s happening across the UK and Ireland. We’re designing and rolling out several networks with altnets in the UK and in Ireland. We’re also supporting the upgrade of wireless networks to 4G and 5G and we’re engaged with several operators in the UK in the wireless arena as well.
Yes, the big difference is in the access side, especially with regards to 5G and IoT networks is
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densification. There are going to be significantly more cells with the advent of 5G. The analysts forecast billions of cells will be rolled out to support 5G. The density on a typical London street means you could have them every 20 to 40 metres. Where there are three operators, you could triple that number, which means rolling out tens of thousands of fibre connections across the access
Thank you.
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| ISSUE 22 | Q4 2020
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