Bringing the World the Latest in Optical Communications News
ISSUE 40 | Q1 2025
IMPLEMENTING AI: The importance of high-quality network data | p18
AUTO MOTIVES: Optical network automation booms | p8
INTEGRATED BSS: Merima Žiko | p10
REIMAGINING OPTICAL LINE SYSTEMS: Christian Uremovic | p26
AI DRIVES OPTICS META BUILDS SUBSEA CABLE EXAIL TRIALS SPACE COMMS
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CONTENTS
2025: A YEAR OF NEW CHALLENGES
4 8
Industry News
Auto Motives John Williamson 10 Integrated BSS Merima Žiko 12 OFC Preview 14 EPIC CEO Interview Ivan-Lazar Bundalo 18 Implementing AI David Cottingham 20 FTTH Rollouts Dieter Studer 22 Cleaning Blown Fibre Liam Taylor 24 Subsea Cable Damage Antony Savvas 26 Optical Line Systems Christian Uremovic 28 TOP Conference Wrap 31 Product News
Welcome to the spring edition of Optical Connections magazine. With our usual array of industry experts and top-class journalists, we’re looking at a wide range of topics in the run-up to OFC. Inevitably, AI is in the mix, with IQGeo’s David Cottingham underlining the importance of fibre network data quality, and Infinera’s Christian Uremovic highlighting the vital role of Optical Line Systems for improving data centre connectivity. Of course, data integrity and connectivity need to be available at even the remotest areas, and R&M’s Dieter Studer , examines the key stumbling blocks and best practices for providing rural FTTH in the UK and EU, and how they may also apply to the United States. Similarly, identifying best practices is vital given changing consumer demands are pushing telcos to find new ways to optimise their businesses. ZIRA Group’s Merima Žiko argues that delayering the BSS is the way to go. Another vital consideration is the cleanliness of the fibre, particularly in the case of blown fibre applications. MicroCare’s Liam Taylor says maintaining pristine connections is critical for optimal performance. All these developments and improvements count for naught however, if the fibre cable itself is damaged. Increasingly, it seems, submarine cables are sustaining damage for a number of reasons. Antony Savvas asks the optical industry what can be done to mitigate the threats to the world’s vital subsea infrastructure. Obituary We were sad to learn of the death in January of veteran technology journalist John Williamson , who has been a regular contributor to Optical Connections for the last 10 years, and who wrote the feature on Network Automation for this issue. John was a freelance telecoms, IT and military communications journalist. He also wrote for national and international media, and was a telecoms advisor to the World Bank. The team at Optical Connections send our deepest condolences to John’s family, friends and colleagues.
Peter Dykes Contributing Editor
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ISSUE 40 | Q1 2025
INDUSTRY NEWS
AI drives demand for optical transceivers, LPO, CPO
LightCounting’s January 2025 edition of Optics for AI Clusters report finds that this new market segment will double in size in two years: from US$5 billion in 2024 to more than US$10 billion in 2026. The analyst expects this rapid growth to moderate in 2026-2027 as the first wave of excitement about AI subsides. Use of LPO and CPO in scale-up networks will return this market to double digit growth in 2028-2030. It says that growth in Nvidia’s business was the main factor
impacting optical-transceiver sales in 2023-2024. New designs of Nvidia’s AI clusters require a lot of transceivers. Until 2023, Nvidia’s AI cluster systems used only copper and active optical cables (AOCs). The NDR (400G) InfiniBand connections use pluggable 400/800G SR4/ SR8 and DR4/DR8 transceivers instead of AOCs. The latest XDR systems will use 1.6T DR8 and 2xFR4 pluggables, including some LPOs. Nvidia is actively developing CPO as well, which will be the
best option for scaling-up NVLink connectivity over fibre. LightCounting expects that both LPO and CPO will be deployed in scale-up networks staring in 2026-2027, reaching high volumes by 2028. The report explores the evolving role of optics in AI Clusters, covering both connectivity and switching. It features data for the sales of optical transceivers for compute nodes and AI Clusters in Cloud datacentres for 2021-2024 with a forecast for 2025-2030. Importantly,
the forecast includes detailed models for the deployment of optics in AI Clusters (back-end networks) at Alibaba, Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle, to illustrate the differences between the optics used in compute nodes (front- end networks). A detailed analysis of the pivotal role being played by optical connectivity including NVLink, UALink and CXL/ PCIe in the implementation of AI Cluster architectures is central to this report.
Nokia closes Infinera acquisition
Telia Norway, Ciena trial 1.6 Tbps data transmission in Nordics
Nokia has closed the acquisition of Infinera Corporation in a deal worth US$2.3 billion. The San Jose based company has become part of Nokia effective as of the closing. Nokia says the deal creates an optical networks powerhouse with the scale to accelerate product roadmaps, further expanding Nokia’s ability to help network operators – whether service
The Infinera team will join Nokia’s Optical Networks business – headed by its Vice President and General Manager, James Watt. Meanwhile Infinera CEO, David Heard will join Nokia’s Network Infrastructure business group as NI Chief Strategic Growth Officer. In this position he will help to set and oversee the implementation of the business group’s growth plans, including specific customer segment strategies, product and market mix, and go-to-market approach across the business group.
Telia Norway and Ciena recently achieved 1.6 Tbps through a single optical channel between Oslo and Trondheim, claimed to be an industry first in the Nordics. Powered by Ciena’s WaveLogic 6 Extreme (WL6e) technology, the trial was over one of the highest capacity routes in the country and covered a distance of 656km, supporting seven ROADMs. Ciena says its WL6e is the industry’s first high- bandwidth coherent transceiver using state- of-the-art 3nm silicon to drive significant economic benefits for operators, including a 50% reduction in space and power per bit. WL6e provides massive 1.6 Tbps, single-carrier wavelengths for metro ROADM deployments and maximises network coverage for 800G connectivity. “This impressive achievement with Telia Norway builds on a strong track record of Ciena industry-firsts in coherent optics,” said Virginie,
Hollebecque, vice president, EMEA, Ciena. “WL6e can help Telia Norway create the foundation of a new optical fabric designed to support the burgeoning demands of AI and data-centric applications. WL6 can also help position Telia Norway to support the increasing interest in Norway as a prime location for data centre construction, capitalising on the country’s affordable energy and favourable climate.” “Global businesses are increasingly seeing Norway as a highly desirable destination for constructing data centres, as we have an advantageous combination of affordable energy and favourable climate conditions,” said Georg Svendsen, CTO, Telia Norway. “This technology milestone with Ciena’s WaveLogic 6 shows our ability to build a more robust and scalable network that can handle growing bandwidth demands and help push forward Norway’s digital progress.”
providers, webscalers or enterprises – unlock the
opportunities and meet the network and power demands of the AI era.
Exail trials 10G earth-to- space optical comms
Exail has successfully trialled 10 Gbps optical downlink and uplinks between the TELEO geostationary in-orbit demonstrator and ground stations. Developed by Airbus Defense & Space in collaboration with CNES (French Space Agency) and hosted aboard the Arabsat Badr-8 satellite, TELEO features a laser terminal equipped with an optical transceiver assembled and
space-qualified by Exail. The optical transceiver fully integrated by Exail is composed of a transmitter and a receiver channel built with key sub-components. These include Exail’s Low Noise Optical Amplifier (LNOA) based on radiation- hardened doped optical fibres manufactured in-house and matching electronics, lithium- niobate (LiNbO3) modulators, and a RF amplifier.
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UK altnets FullFibre, Zzoomm to merge
Meta to build 50,000km subsea cable
Meta, which owns FaceBook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has announced Project Waterworth, a plan to build a 50,000 km subsea cable connecting five major continents, making it the world’s longest subsea cable project. Although Meta is reticent to discuss financials, reports estimate the cost of the project will be at least US$10 billion. Project Waterworth will bring industry-leading connectivity to the U.S., India, Brazil, South Africa, and other key regions, says the company. The project will enable greater economic cooperation, facilitate digital inclusion, and open opportunities for technological development in these regions. For example, in India, where there has
Consolidation continues among the UK’s altnets with the news that FullFibre, a wholesale full fibre network provider along with its in- house ISP retail company, BeFibre, and Zzoomm, have agreed to merge. The enlarged group will have one of the largest full fibre footprints in the UK, with some 600,000 properties ready for service and over 65,000 customers, and will also be well positioned for further M&A. The companies say the merged business will be able to accelerate growth, enhance operational efficiency and lead on further M&A across the fragmented Altnet sector. The merged entity combines two complementary networks and operating models.
already been significant growth and investment in digital infrastructure. Waterworth will help accelerate this progress and support the country’s ambitious plans for its digital economy. Meta says with Project Waterworth, the company continues to advance engineering design to maintain cable resilience, enabling it to build the longest 24 fibre pair cable project in the world and enhance overall speed of deployment. It is also deploying first-of-its-kind routing, maximising the cable laid in deep water — at depths up to 7,000 meters — and using enhanced burial techniques in high-risk fault areas, such as shallow waters near the coast, to avoid damage from ship anchors and other hazards.
This, say the companies, will create significant opportunities to accelerate customer growth across a larger footprint, secure funding for new builds and future mergers, and achieve greater operational and financial efficiencies through economies of scale. Additionally, the partnership will enhance wholesale services for internet service providers (ISPs), unlocking valuable new revenue streams. The merger is subject to final documentation execution and regulatory approval, expected early in 2025. Matthew Hare, CEO of Zzoomm, will become Executive Chairman and James Warner, CEO of FullFibre, will be Group CEO.
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ISSUE 40 | Q1 2025
INDUSTRY NEWS
EXA partners with IOEMA
Early launch for China Telecom’s ADC
landing stations, serves as a critical gateway between the UK and the Netherlands via the Concerto cable. It offers low-latency direct links to London, alternative routes to Dublin and northern UK regions bypassing London, and access to multiple transatlantic pathways, further strengthening connectivity to the Nordics. Steve Roberts, SVP of Strategic Investments and Product Management at EXA Infrastructure, stated, “Being selected as the landing partner for this advanced fibre optic project highlights our expertise in delivering complex subsea landing solutions. Our commitment to providing diversity and resiliency through our extensive owned fibre network in Europe, coupled with vital transatlantic
China Telecom has announced that the capacity of the Asia Direct Cable (ADC), an international submarine cable initiative led by the operator, has gone into service ahead of schedule, two months earlier than originally planned. This, says China Telecom, marks another significant milestone following the Ready for Service of the ADC wet segment last November. The ADC launch is particularly important, according to China Telecom, because over the past eight years, no new submarine cables had been brought into operation within the Asia-Pacific region, leaving existing resources nearly exhausted and creating a challenging situation in the market. As Co-chair of the ADC Consortium, China Telecom Global Limited has
EXA Infrastructure has been chosen by IOEMA as the landing partner for its new submarine cable in Leiston, UK. From the cable landing station EXA will also provide backhaul connectivity to major data centres, including London Telehouse and Equinix. Launched in May 2024, IOEMA is a 1,600 km repeated high-capacity submarine fibre optic network linking five key Northern European markets: the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, and Norway. This project is a game-changer, connecting strategic locations favoured by Hyperscalers and Content Providers - due to power availability - with the primary landing points linking Europe’s core FLAP (Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris) data hubs. Leiston, one of EXA Infrastructure’s 20 cable
taken a proactive approach by coordinating closely with all consortium members and suppliers to overcome unexpected challenges and difficulties. This collaborative effort, it says, has successfully brought ADC capacity into service two months ahead of schedule, significantly alleviating the strain on submarine cable resources. The coming online of ADC capacity will provide a robust foundation for the thriving development of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and big data, while offering support for digital transformation across industries. Looking ahead, China Telecom says it will continue to expand its footprint in overseas markets, actively developing global network resources to make even greater contributions to the advancement of the global digital economy.
routes, positions us as a market leader in enabling advanced connectivity.”
DE-CIX taps Nokia for New York IX upgrade
Zayo taps Infinera for US 1Tbps trial
Zayo and Infinera have successfully completed a live network trial using Infinera’s ICE7, a seventh-generation embedded optical engine, to deliver 1Tbps single 150GHz wavelength transmission over 1,391 kilometres on a major North American route between Sacramento, CA and Salt Lake City. This, says Zayo, achievement will enable it to deliver 32Tbps of C-Band capacity across this link, with the ability to double bandwidth to 64Tbps with L-Band. Infinera’s ICE7 optical engine features a 5-nm CMOS DSP and leverages the latest generation of advanced high-speed optics to deliver high-baud-rate (140+ Gbaud) and single-
Nokia and Internet Exchange (IX) operator, have announced the upgrade of the operator’s New York backbone network, which is the largest IX in NY and in the US Northeast region. The DE-CIX backbone will be upgraded to 400 Gigabit Ethernet (GE) using Nokia optical technology and redesigned in a ring topology, redundantly interconnecting the 10 data centre facilities where DE-CIX infrastructure is housed and enhancing the resiliency of the platform for all participants. The Nokia optical solution also enables 800GE support
wavelength transmission of up to 1.2 Tbps, highlighting the improved capacity-reach and significantly reduced cost per bit, power consumption, and footprint of coherent optical transport. Zayo operates the largest independent network, spanning 132,000 route miles in North America alone, and one of the largest and most modern 400G networks in North America. The success of the trial demonstrates Zayo’s ability to seamlessly integrate innovative new solutions like Infinera’s ICE7 optical engine into its network to deliver the highest capacity, speed, and efficiency to meet the growing demands of its customers.
employs Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer (ROADM) technology to ensure much greater routing flexibility, faster reaction times in the case of incidents, and a seamless customer experience without any service interruptions. Nokia says that within a DWDM system, the ROADM technology in Nokia’s 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS) makes it possible to automatically reroute waves at the optical layer in any direction around the backbone. This means that incidents at any location in the network can be mitigated more rapidly and less capacity is required at the IP layer to guarantee the same level of resilience.
for anticipated further growth of the IX and
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ISSUE 40 | Q1 2025
JOHN WILLIAMSON NETWORK AUTOMATION
AUTO MOTIVES: OPTICAL NETWORK AUTOMATION BOOMS
Automation methodologies, tools and systems are currently attracting much interest, investment and deployments from optical network operators and service providers. Veteran telecoms journalist John Williamson takes a deep dive into the future of network management.
VIRTUALISATION SDN/NFV and virtualisation are key network automation enablers. Fiala acknowledges that SDN is the foundation of automation, but says that while the initial concept of SDN focused on centralising control functions, a more practical approach has emerged, “Today, certain control functions, like real-time IP routing decisions, remain with the network element because of latency requirements. And, centralised controllers handle functions such as path computation for traffic-engineered tunnels and network health analysis.” Fiala also observes that there are different considerations for the automation of virtualised network functions, but automation and NFV are not interdependent - that is, automation can be applied equally well across hardware network elements, regardless of virtualisation. “More interestingly, NFV features come into play as modern network controllers are themselves “virtualised” as cloud-native platforms,” she comments. “This allows them to be deployed in the cloud, leveraging elastic compute and memory resources.” AI? AYE… Will AI/ML play an important role in future automation scenarios? In Hollander’s reading of the runes, improvements come from integrating AI-driven tools to enhance design quality, accelerate knowledge gathering for permitting processes, and optimise business planning with ROI evaluations. “Technologies like digital twins, AI agents for investment decisions, and Gen-AI platforms for telco-specific tasks further refine automation,” he argues.” Gen-AI can also be used to automate network testing, helping to pinpoint the most critical areas to test, leading to higher quality and faster time to market.”
“According to a recent survey of global network operators conducted by Heavy Reading, more than half of respondents already have at least partial transport network automation,” confirms Marie Fiala, director, Portfolio Marketing at optical and routing systems, services, and automation software company Ciena. “Moreover, within the next three years, the majority of operators anticipate surpassing this level thanks to the introduction of intent-based and closed-loop automation over a range of use cases.” “Automation plays an important role across the entire network lifecycle from initial planning and design, to construction, and ongoing maintenance,” adds Steve Tongish, CMO at geospatial network management software provider IQGeo. “Enhanced optical network automation drives faster time-to-revenue, reduced costs, and greater design efficiency, enabling providers to deliver services more quickly and win customers by being the first to serve high-value areas,” states Nir Hollander, general manager at Amdocs Mobile Networks. “Automation streamlines processes like high-level design drafting and field deployments, optimising resource allocation and prioritising investments in areas with the best ROI.” AUTOMATIC DRIVERS There are a number of factors driving this focus on network automation. One is the escalating complexity of optical networks, and the diversifying application repertoire required by a growing cohort of users and suppliers. Related to this are the shortages of human workforce skills that are needed to meet the challenges of the newly emerging networking landscape. Tongish declares: “There is a shortage of skilled engineering talent and that manifests itself in a variety of different ways. The ability to roll things out and compete will be
impacted by that.” He also distinguishes between the ‘non-digital natives’ and the ‘digital natives’, and the sometimes crude tools the former encounter in their workplaces compared to the sophisticated tools that the latter are accustomed to in their private capacities. A third non-trivial consideration here is rising concern about their bottom lines among optical network builders and operators. WAYS AND MEANS There’s a range of tools and technologies that can facilitate optical network automation and enhance it. Jelena Pesic, Director of Optical Strategy in Nokia’s CTO Office, instances leveraging of northbound-facing APIs to provide a functional abstraction of the network layer, thereby facilitating the automation of service fulfilment and seamless integration with higher-level OSS and BSS. In addition, she includes: the adoption of open standardisation protocols, such as NETCONF/YANG with OpenConfig or transport APIs, as essential for facilitating the management of multi-domain and multilayer networks; the integration of workflow management capabilities; converged automation platforms; real-time network telemetry (streaming telemetry) and predictive alerting, automated network spectral planning and optimisation; and advanced troubleshooting analysis tools, such as using optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR) baselining and event location detection. Fiala also stresses the importance of APIs. “To enhance optical network automation, it’s important to prioritise the use of open APIs, which facilitate seamless interoperability between network controllers and the OSS layer,” she asserts. “The goal is end-to-end automation of operational workflows between different software systems.”
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JOHN WILLIAMSON NETWORK AUTOMATION
According to Pesic, although the integration of AI/ML is still in its nascent stages, relatively speaking, Nokia believes AI/ML will simplify network lifecycle management by reducing the time required to detect, respond to, and resolve issues. She reckons that several areas within the optical transport domain, which are currently under development, demonstrate considerable promise in leveraging AI/ML algorithms to: predictive traffic management; fault detection and diagnosis; predictive maintenance; automated troubleshooting; and natural language Interaction. AI SPEED BUMPS? But for the further use of AI/ML in optical network automation, a few issues may need to be addressed. Fiala notes that network data is key to the accuracy of AI-generated responses. “To develop sophisticated and precise AI models for specific networking use cases, vendors and service providers have to collaborate and share extensive network datasets,” she reasons. Ciena adds that AI-driven capabilities heavily rely on AI models, which currently reside in the cloud due to computational and memory requirements. “Service providers need secure access to the public cloud or, alternatively, can utilise their own private cloud infrastructure,” Fiala contends. Finally, she mentions that AI models must be “smaller” so that they can be deployed in private clouds or on-premises. “The technology is evolving at hyper speed to address this challenge, striving to optimise the resource requirements for AI consumption as well as AI model training.” IN THE WORKS What might future optical network automation solutions consist of? There’s some consensus that digital twins will be part of the deal. Hollander speaks of the increased adoption of digital twins to simulate and optimise network
performance and roll-out strategies. “The concept of digital twins is gaining traction in the context of optical network automation,” agrees Fiala. “It involves creating an environment testing and validating AI model outputs, confirming their accuracy and effectiveness.” “Widespread adoption and growth of AI will be constrained by the electrical grid’s ability to power new datacentres,” calculates Pesic. “As a result, operators will need to prioritise energy efficiency and optimise network operations to minimise the impacts of insufficient electrical infrastructure. This may involve automating the powering down of unused network elements and powering them up as needed.” Do cognitive and intent-based networking have key parts to play here? “There is certainly a role for this technology in the management of fibre
customers,” says Tongish. “This is not an area that IQGeo get directly involved in, but mitigating customer churn is vitally important to the success of all broadband businesses.”
Related to the greater utilisation of AI/ML, Tongish emphasises that
improved network data quality is a must. “Automation will fuel better network data quality,” he predicts. “Network data quality is going to become more important as we try and add more sophisticated network technologies.” Pesic ends with a somewhat mixed message, pointing out that some network operators may lack the in-house expertise to fully leverage the benefits of increased automation in network operations. “This will create a growing demand for vendor-provided professional services that can support multi-vendor, multi- layer networks.” • Operators expect to benefit from a 10% uplift in revenue from faster service turn up, combined with an accelerated time-to-market for services that led to higher win rates and the ability to offer differentiated services made possible by optical network slicing and network- as-a-service. Adding to these sorts of positive stats, Hollander reports that Amdocs has found that automation can lead to as much as 50% improvement in time to market. It also leads to increased quality (over 95% initial quality) and consistency across the network, leading to lower operations costs. There may be caveats, though, and not all types of optical network operators may exhibit the same enthusiasm and requirement to embrace automation. Tongish suggests that, for smaller players, it could be less of an issue since they don’t face the same kind of economic pressures as their larger counterparts that are moving from a race to build fibre to a race to retain customers.
MEASURING UP Some of the individual benefits of
optical network automation have been quantified. As remarked by Pesic, a 2024 investigation conducted by Nokia and
Analysys Mason, concluded that: • Automating network lifecycle
management processes led to an overall savings of up to 56% in operational costs through simplifying complex network operations tasks and shortening the time to provision, configure, deploy and manage optical networks • Operational cost savings of up to 81% for network operators offering service virtualisation and slicing, because of a reduction in the time that it takes to complete service order orchestration (90%), service fulfilment (83%) and service assurance (54%) processes • Automating network planning for both the planned and deployed network optimises network resources and enables legacy network equipment to be retired, which contributes to CapEx avoidance of 30%
Marie Fiala Director, Portfolio Marketing at optical & routing systems, Ciena
Steve Tongish CMO, IQGeo
Nir Hollander General Manager, Amdocs Mobile Networks
Jelena Pesic Director, Optical Strategy, CTO Office, Nokia
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ISSUE 40 | Q1 2025
MERIMA ŽIKO BSS
DELIVERING STANDALONE FIBRECO FOR OPERATORS AN INTEGRATED BSS APPROACH: Rising costs, intense competition, and constantly changing consumer demands have pushed telcos to find new ways to optimise their businesses. One potential solution is delayering. This process involves breaking down the traditional telecommunications model into three distinct vertical layers. The NetCos are responsible for the core network and technology assets, ServeCos manage the retail operations, and the services sold to end-users, while InfraCos oversee hardware and assets, including the broadband networks, writes Merima Žiko , product director, ZIRA Group.
B y re-evaluating their capital, and invest in next- generation connectivity and related applications like IoT. However, implementing this approach is not without its challenges. A robust and effective IT strategy is essential to fully realising the benefits of delayering. For the purposes of this article, we will focus on the example of wholesale FibreCos, a type of InfraCo. operational structures through delayering, telcos can improve operational efficiency, free up
These challenges, coupled with the need for a quick time to market, may cause operators to hesitate when it comes to investing in fibre. However, the potential rewards of operating a wholesale FibreCo far outweigh the associated risks. A solid IT strategy supported by a pre-integrated and comprehensive Business Support Systems (BSS) solution is essential. Furthermore, working with a single partner with the right functionalities will accelerate the set-up and deployment process. Thereby, reducing vendor dependency, minimising integration efforts, and lowering the need for customisation. Then it’s a case of implementing these four pillars to achieve success.
to work with a partner that understands the complexities of FTTX broadband services in relation to broader telecoms operations. The BSS must handle intricate fibre- related scenarios, such as operator transfers and penalties for missed appointments. Various families in the FibreCo’s catalogue – like FTTx or XGS-PON - should be pre-configured to align with appropriate workflows and processes to ensure a fast time to market. Additionally, managing the end-to-end ecosystem is complex, as partners might need to provision services like WiFi routers or TV set-top boxes. Significant benefits can arise if FibreCos can orchestrate processes and have end- to-end ownership, including installing equipment on behalf of partners. BSS should support these hybrid ownership models to unlock advantages. CAPABILITIES TO SIMPLIFY WHOLESALE FIBRE COMPLEXITY FibreCo operators require a BSS solution that quickly and cost-effectively integrates into their IT landscape, explicitly catering to wholesale needs. Practical customer and partner management is essential for success. A dedicated customer and partner management module should serve as a master source for all accounts, automating the onboarding lifecycle process and ensuring a seamless digital sales experience. FibreCos have various agreements with partners to market services at varying prices, often with complex terms, making integration into the BSS process challenging. Integrated with ordering and billing systems, an agreement management module will support customised business contracts so wholesale fibre partners
BALANCING OPPORTUNITIES AND RISKS
FibreCos, responsible for delivering high- speed fibre optic networks, will become a core component of this new organisational structure. Investment in broadband is set to drive growth, enabling telcos to increase both ARPU and market presence. The Fibre to the X (FTTX) market is expected to grow to US$43 billion by 2030 , appealing to investors seeking the stable, long-term cash flows that infrastructure can offer. Despite the clear advantages of fibre infrastructure, operators face challenges in managing the complexities of running a wholesale fibre business. IT systems are crucial for converting infrastructure into revenue, but they can be challenging to implement. Fibre is unique within the telecoms ecosystem, requiring a specific IT stack to accommodate the various processes, particularly for a wholesale model. Managing these requirements can be complicated. Furthermore, operators transitioning from legacy systems or introducing new infrastructure must invest considerable time and CAPEX before monetising it.
END-TO-END SUPPORT FOR FIBRE PROCESSES
A BSS system capable of delivering complete, fibre-specific end-to-end support is essential for operators to maximise their infrastructure. It must support various services and system capabilities through pre-configured workflows using a data model designed specifically for fibre, eliminating the need for operators to build their FibreCos from scratch. Integrating the business requirements of IT systems and partner ecosystems is complex, necessitating a comprehensive stack to address these challenges. Fibre networks have unique fulfilment needs involving multiple automated tasks, such as feasibility checks based on address inventory and conditional installation appointment reservations. To manage this complexity, FibreCos need a BSS that balances manual and automated steps for efficient delivery. That said, it’s also essential
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MERIMA ŽIKO BSS
as partners’ needs change. By enabling easy integration and adapting to existing processes and legacy systems in this way, the right BSS will help facilitate the successful launch of a FibreCo.
can receive personalised service. A revenue management module is also vital for wholesale billing activities, such as managing invoicing based on agreements and subscription dates, while ensuring integration with financial systems for smooth reporting. A comprehensive catalogue is crucial for managing complex product offerings and addressing market challenges. It must support the entire product lifecycle, allowing quick adaptions to new internet speeds and flexibility to meet different partners’ needs. The order capture, orchestration, and fulfilment processes must be smooth and closely aligned with the catalogue while integrating with external systems and internal BSS applications, which requires significant flexibility. A unified order management module provides this flexibility by supporting catalogue and workflow- driven processes, enabling FibreCos to define the decomposition and fulfilment steps for various products based on their requirements. Lastly, problem management and trouble ticketing are essential for smooth service operations. This necessitates a workflow-driven case management solution that can adapt to the FibreCo’s needs and integrate seamlessly with other applications to facilitate the end- to-end ticketing process.
SCALABILITY FOR BUSINESS EVOLUTION
When launching a FibreCo, operators often find that they lack essential capabilities within their IT landscape
Fiber enablement solution. Image: ZIRA-Group.
solution is crucial for overcoming the challenges of implementing infrastructure, integrating with partners and customers, and scaling the business as it grows. A wholesale “BSS-in-a-box” solution, which includes pre-configured processes, workflows, catalogue data models, and
and require flexibility in their systems to address this. They need a BSS solution to help them generate revenue while scaling their operations. For example, if a new FibreCo doesn’t have a proper service activation layer, the BSS could serve as a light Service Order Management (SOM) system to fill that gap. Alternatively, the BSS could introduce appropriate manual processes via workflows or bypass specific steps altogether if a workforce management system is missing. As a FibreCo grows, it must automate additional capabilities, fully integrate with new and existing systems, and expand its BSS functionality. Therefore, having a solution that can evolve to meet these changing requirements is crucial for accelerating the timeline to revenue while building an efficient business. Operators will encounter several investment challenges when launching a FibreCo. The initial investment in the network itself is substantial, and adding considerable IT costs can pose a barrier to entry for some. They will need a cost-efficient solution, particularly in the early stages when the FibreCo has yet to generate revenue. Instead of investing in “one-size-fits-all” BSS, operators should instead seek a flexible provider that can adjust the pricing of their BSS, allowing them to pay as they grow. This approach enables them to defer significant upfront investments until their FibreCo is successful.
best practices, will enable FibreCos to integrate across the entire fibre
ecosystem. This streamlining can lead to a more efficient operation that maximises revenue. Additionally, with comprehensive support for fibre processes, FibreCos can cater to demand from partners of all sizes, accommodating a variety of business models ranging from large operators to small resellers. With the right BSS solution, FibreCo operators can effectively convert their fibre infrastructure into revenue. By overcoming numerous delivery and management challenges and significantly reducing time to market, they will be positioned to seize the opportunities presented by delayering, particularly in the fibre sector.
EASY INTEGRATION AND ADAPTABILITY
A BSS must be open to a FibreCo’s partners and channels, enabling them to utilise its capabilities and seamlessly integrate with its broader IT and network ecosystem. It should comply with TM Forum and LSO standards, facilitating straightforward integration with external and legacy IT applications such as ERP financial systems, device management, and logistics. Additionally, the BSS must be adaptable to meet the specific needs and processes of the FibreCo. A FibreCo’s capabilities should be accessible through APIs via a partner API Gateway. This setup will streamline operations for all parties involved and support a self-service partner portal tailored to the FibreCo’s infrastructure. This portal will enable partners who seek quick time-to-market to manage orders, tickets, and bills effectively. Furthermore, configurable business processes and workflows – from product portfolio setup to business rules for order capture, fulfilment orchestration, and trouble ticketing - can significantly reduce time-to-market. The BSS should also be able to create product extensions and configurations through a continuous DevOps development and release process. This flexibility allows for easy improvements and product upgrades
SEIZING THE FIBRE OPPORTUNITIES
As the market rapidly expands, many operators find pursuing a delayering strategy and owning a wholesale FibreCo attractive. However, rolling out the physical infrastructure can be challenging in itself. Managing the complex elements of the wholesale business presents additional, significant challenges. Despite these difficulties, adopting an appropriate approach to both IT and business can unlock substantial and ongoing growth potential. A dedicated wholesale BSS
Merima Žiko, Product Director, ZIRA
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EVENT FOCUS OFC 2025
1st – 3rd April 2025, Moscone Centre, San Francisco, California, USA Once again, companies exhibiting at the fiftieth OFC conference and expo, will showcase network equipment and software, active and passive components, test and manufacturing equipment, data centre solutions and fibre technologies. Visitors will be able to compare and contrast these industry leading companies and make their technology decisions. OFC TURNS 50! THE SHOWCASE FOR NEW PRODUCTS AND SOLUTIONS
THE EXPO Show Floor Programmes – The State of the Industry The three exhibit hall theatres feature presentations by experts from major global brands and key industry organisations. Get high-level perspectives on hot topics like intra and inter data centre connectivity, infrastructure and machine learning/automation. Learn about the state of the industry, emerging trends and recommended courses of action for how to tackle today’s toughest business challenges. Among the many Show Floor Programmes are some useful updates on standards and a range of technologies, including advances in international standards on optical networks towards 2030; higher speed PON, latest OTN technologies and interoperable optical interfaces; Open ROADM MSA updates and demonstrations; a sneak peek at CableLabs’ CPON specifications; the emerging photonics ecosystem for AI/ML interconnects; the commercial readiness of Thin-Film Lithium Niobate photonics; and an Open XR Optics update. DATA CENTRE SUMMIT This program focuses on next generation optical technologies for intra and/or inter data centre connectivity. Evolving data centre requirements and challenges will be discussed as they pertain to equipment, technologies, solutions and deployment scenarios. This three-day series of panel discussions highlights the latest application topics and business issues in the field of optical communications. Presentations and panel sessions feature esteemed guest speakers from industry, research and the investment community. Panel discussions include Trends at Data Centres: Architectures, Enablers and Challenges , moderated by Zuowei Shen, Google, USA Market Watch , and AI Impact Inside and Outside of Data Centres , moderated by Bill Kautz, Infinera, USA
NETWORK OPERATOR SUMMIT This dynamic program presents the inside perspective from network operators and service providers -- their issues, business drivers and how network requirements impact the future of the industry. Everyone in the supply chain, from equipment to component manufacturers, will want to hear what’s next in meeting the demand of our industry’s network operators. Beginning with a keynote from NTT Japan’s Yoshiaki Sone, panels include: Interoperation of Optical Pluggable Transceivers and IP/Optical Integration, moderated by Anuj Malik, Cisco, USA; and Optical Access, Radio Access Networks, Front- and Backhaul, moderated by Stephan Neidlinger, ADVA, Germany
SYMPOSIA Comprised of invited and contributed papers, on areas deemed to be of special interest to OFC conference attendees. SPECIAL SESSIONS Provides convivial, interactive, open fora to address topics not covered by traditional presentations, but that are of interest and importance to the OFC community. Workshops offer an informal format to enable open discussion between moderators and panels of specialists and the audience to address technical or strategic questions that may lack clear consensus. Short Courses (supplemental registration) Covers a broad range of topic areas at a variety of educational levels, and taught by highly-regarded industry experts on a number of subjects. Whether you choose a course designed for beginners or for more advanced instruction, the small size of each class gives you an excellent opportunity for personalised instruction. Registrants receive one copy of the Course Notes, which will be distributed onsite. DEMO ZONE Featuring live demonstrations of research projects and proof-of-concept implementations in the space of optical communications devices, systems and networks. Demonstrations occur in dedicated booths in the Demo Zone as part of the OFC technical program.
OFCNET Making a welcome return is OFCnet,
which enables research and education and Industry to demonstrate products, concepts, solutions, research, and architectures in a live high-speed optical network connected to leading research and education networks worldwide. This increased focus on designing and building the next generation of optical networks will enable OFCnet to bring emerging technologies, Quantum networking, programmability, and network software applications for big data applications to the forefront of the industry. This live network is built to showcase emerging technologies, including quantum networking, AI, network element interoperability and networking for big data/big science applications from industry innovators. THE TECHNICAL CONFERENCE OFC’s five-day, technical conference features peer-reviewed presentations and more than 120 invited speakers, representing thought leaders across the industry. Additional technical programming throughout the week includes symposia, special sessions, short courses, demo zone, show floor programs and special events.
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ISSUE 40 | Q1 2025
IVAN-LAZAR BUNDALO EPIC EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW
In this interview, Antonio Castelo, PhD, EPIC’s Technology Manager for Bio-Medical and Lasers, talks to Ivan-Lazar Bundalo , CTO at InSpek - a company in Paris, France, that makes PIC–based monitoring systems for biopharmaceutical and synthetic biology applications. IVAN-LAZAR BUNDALO EPIC EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW
Seed fundraising period, and I joined working as a technical consultant. Our efforts aligned, and in January 2024, I was appointed as InSpek’s CTO to develop the technical roadmap and lead technical efforts.
What’s the background to your appointment as CTO at InSpek?
sensors makes them able to interact with different molecules and parameters being measured. We use passive chips, meaning no electronics are involved, and our Raman-on-chip technology is the first and the most complicated sensing technique we developed. We are benefitting from PIC’s very small footprint - that allows for integrating multiple sensors on a single chip. PICs are also reliable and affordable when produced at scale. As a fabless company, we do the designs and get different foundries to produce PICs for us. The packaging of the chips is taken care of by another partner, but everything else – characterisation, testing, encapsulation, and system designs are done by us.
AC
In 2010, I finished a BSc in Electrical Engineering at the University of Zagreb in Croatia. Having developed
I-LB
What is InSpek doing?
a passion for photonics, I then enrolled on an MSc in Photonics, funded by the European Union and organised by five universities in
AC
Marseilles, Barcelona and Karlsruhe. This was followed in 2013 by a PhD at Technical University of Denmark in Copenhagen, where I focused on the
Our focus at InSpek is the development of an all-in-one sensor to monitor bioprocesses.
I-LB
Bioprocesses utilize microorganisms to produce some of the most complex medicines ever created by humankind. We’ve been all in touch with those medicines as most vaccines are made by bioprocesses. These microorganisms need to be tuned carefully and controlled for a range of parameters in their environment - such as acidity, temperature and oxygenation. Measuring these parameters, until now, required a different sensor for each parameter. That meant that not all the parameters could be measured at different stages of bioprocess upscaling. Furthermore, before being placed inside a bioreactor, each sensor has to be sterilized to avoid contamination by foreign bacteria – which carries an enormous environmental footprint. The advantage of using our all-in-one sensor is that the sterilization process must be done only once - saving a lot of time and money. Additionally, our sensors can be placed inside smallest bioreactors, which do not always have space for e.g. 5 conventional sensors. Finally, it’s the non-invasive monitoring - that can simultaneously and in-real time track several variables - that makes our solution unique.
development of Polymer Optical Fibre (POF) based sensors for a variety of medical and industrial applications. With a curiosity driving me, I couldn’t confine myself to just one field, so in 2018, I joined Tyndall Research Institute in Ireland as a Research Scientist on PIXAPP – European PIC Packaging Pilot Line. This large project involved working on multiple commercial and research projects involving the integration and packaging of ICT systems, biomedical and sensing devices. Besides learning about microoptics, electronics, mechanical design and thermal management, this was a formative experience for me as I was put in charge of leading development of a datacom demonstrator. This 4-year project comprising six mostly industrial partners, and a few cutting-edge technologies was pushing the frontiers and standardising new PIC packaging techniques. Then, in 2021, I moved to Switzerland to work for the Swiss Centre for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM). There I worked also on PIC packaging, with a focus on industrial projects in biosensing, telecom and quantum domains. After a few months of career break backpacking in South America in 2023, I got in contact with Jérôme Michon, CEO of InSpek. He started InSpek with the aim of developing Raman-on-chip technology for improving the development of biopharmaceutical drugs and vaccines. At that time, InSpek was just about to enter a
What were the main challenges when you started?
AC
What I didn’t expect was the amount of work I would have to do in addition to technical work. It
I-LB
ranged from talking to investors, preparing budgets, researching the market, and hiring people. As I hadn’t been involved in these areas before, it was an exciting challenge. With Jérôme’s help, and with great collaborative atmosphere inside the company, it all turned out to be a very rewarding experience.
Do you think previous training in business management would have been beneficial?
AC
I-LB Yes, and no. Training courses are very useful in the long term, the problem is that you get a lot of information, but you don’t absorb it all. Oftentimes the help is needed on particular issues. Fortunately, being a startup, we could ask incubators, accelerators, and since recently investors’ scaleboarding teams for help, and to advise us on specific issues we were facing. That was very helpful!
What’s the technology behind the sensor?
AC
We developed our IP on unique PIC designs that optimize light-matter interactions. The architecture of the
I-LB
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