CONTENTS
CHANGE DRIVES INNOVATION Welcome to the Autumn issue of Optical Connections. 2020 has certainly been a year of massive uncertainty and change, and the fibre optic communications industry has not escaped. Trade expo’s, the industry’s chance to meet together, network and do business face to face, have either been postponed or moved online. Indeed, ECOC 2020 is no exception, having been postponed until 7th – 9th December, albeit with extensive safety measures implemented at the venue by the Brussels Expo management team (see page 29). Change has come to the wider industry too, in the form of an exponential growth in demand for broadband capacity, which in turn is driving innovation and development in several areas of the fibre optic communications industry. In this issue, we examine some of the technologies that are taking the industry forward. Starting from first principles, we look at how optical networks are designed and planned with Indigo’s project director Nick Naughton . Appropriate connectivity is also vital but basic requirement and Peter Dykes takes a look at what connectors are currently in use and the challenges developments in cable technology are presenting to connector vendors. Of course, once optical networks are up and running, they need to be kept that way and MicroCare’s SVP Jay Tourigny offers some invaluable advice on maintaining reliability. Not all networks are built from scratch however, and often evolve from older technologies. A prime example is hybrid cable/fibre (HFC) networks and in a thought-provoking feature, Emmanuel Vella , VP Sales N&C Europe at CommScope discusses how HFC network migration can be managed on the road to 10G. The capacity demand, made more ever more pressing with the onset of 5G and IoT, is also driving operators to look for new efficiencies in their networks by re- architecting network infrastructure. Perhaps the hottest topic in terms of network efficiency is network disaggregation, a topic explored by veteran telecoms journalist John Williamson . Greater efficiency is also required for transmission between cloud data centres and the edge to better serve end users, and is driving new developments in photonics. Antony Savvas looks at innovations in laser design for next generation optical networks. In this issue, we also preview ECOC 2020 Conference and Expo, including the ever-popular Market Focus and the inaugural ECOC Exhibition Industry Awards, implemented to celebrate 25 years of ECOC. There are also the usual features including Industry and Product News as well as a look at some of the upcoming virtual expo’s means there’s plenty to read during lockdown.
4
Industry News
8
Connectivity Peter Dykes
10 Tektronix
Promo Feature
12 The View From Indigo Peter Dykes 16 Migrating HFC Networks Emmanuel Vella 18 Disaggregated Networks John Williamson 22 Cleaning Fibre Splices Jay Tourigny 24 Redesigning Lasers Antony Savvas 28 ECOC Preview 30 ECOC Market Focus 31 ECOC Awards Industry Awards 34 Event Focus 36 Product Focus
Peter Dykes Contributing Editor
READ ONLINE/SUBSCRIBE: www.opticalconnectionsnews.com FOLLOW US @opsonsnews
MEDIA PARTNERS
EDITORIAL : editor@opticalconnectionsnews.com ADVERTISING: sales@opticalconnectionsnews.com DESIGN: Antonio Manuel
Optical Connections is published by NEXUS MEDIA EVENTS LTD Suite 3, Building 30, Churchill Square, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19 4YU t: +44 (0) 1732 752 125 f: +44 (0) 1732 752 130
www.opticalconnectionsnews.com
3
ISSUE 22 | Q4 2020
Made with FlippingBook Publishing Software