CONTENTS
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Industry News
PHOTONIC OPPORTUNITY At Nexus Media’s highly successful Telecoms, Optics & Photonics Conference, held in London in February, it became abundantly clear that the photonics industry, while underpinning fixed and mobile communications networks, the internet and a host of other industries and services, is largely unrecognised and underfunded. Conference delegates and representatives from the European Photonics Industry Consortium (EPIC) called for a greater awareness of the importance of industry from governments and the public alike. In this issue, we look at some of the latest developments in the photonics industry and some of the less obvious issues that might impact on it. Veteran journalist John Williamson writes that silicon photonics (SiPho) is looking like a technology whose bigtime has finally arrived, and whose potential in terms of future performance metrics and application areas is huge. Regular contributor Antony Savvas looks at the latest developments in laser technologies and the growing market for the devices, driven by new use cases in data communications, transport, health, defence, manufacturing and other sectors. We also take a look at the technology behind Ragile Network’s new NPO switch and Infinera chart how telecoms networks reached their current complexity and how they will evolve in the future. With fibre network rollouts continuing to accelerate, data centres proliferating and the demand for bandwidth increasing exponentially, supply chains for optics and DSPs could be stretched. We discuss some of the most pressing supply chain issues with industry veteran, serial entrepreneur and CEO of Westbury Photonics Robert Hughes. Of course, having a secure supply chain and reliable software and components counts for little if the optical cable network hasn’t been installed properly and Mathieu Brigot, Product & Solution Manager at optical telecom systems provider Nexans argues that human error at the installation stage along with a lack of redundancy present major threats to network integrity. The growth in all areas of fibre communications is also creating opportunities for new and existing companies to take a share of the various market sectors. Ribbon is a company aiming to become a major player in the optical communications and IP routing spaces, and we discuss the company’s aspirations and strategy with President and CEO Bruce McClelland.
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The Future of Silicon Photonics John Williamson
10 Focus on Laser Technologies Antony Savvas 14 Securing the Supply Chain Peter Dykes 16 Ribbon Aims For Growth Peter Dykes 18 Protecting the Network Mathieu Brigot 20 Ragile Goes With NPO Peter Dykes 22 Telecom Transformation Christian Uremovic 24 TOP Conference Wrap 26 Event Focus 28 Product News
Peter Dykes Contributing Editor
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ISSUE 28 | Q1 2022
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