CONTENTS
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Industry News
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Industry Focus M&As
It is said that to understand the future, one must first understand the past. With this in mind, Optical Connections’ Industry Focus Special takes a look at some of the highlights of 2019, and with the help of the latest analysts’ reports, a glimpse at how the fibre optics industry might develop in the future. Let’s face it, 2019 was a very good year for the industry. Consolidation is usually a sign of a maturing ecosystem and there were some major M&A’s in the last 12 months. Not the least of these was II-VI’s acquisition of Finisar for around US$3.2 billion, completed in September. The combined company is looking to become market leader in differentiated materials and devices such as those based on gallium arsenide, indium phosphide, gallium nitride and silicon carbide. Also in the news was Cisco’s acquisition of Acacia, made in an attempt to take a share in the rapidly-growing coherent optical interconnect market as it moves from rack-based to pluggable components. 2019 was also a good year for new products, some of which, such as Infinera’s XR Optics, could have a massive impact on access network architecture in the future. FTTH rollout could also revolutionise in terms of speed and cost using Sterlite Tech’s FTTH Mantra end-to-end solution. Indeed, FTTH rollouts increased massively in the last 12 months and in the Industry Focus section, we take a look at the latest available numbers and initiatives. Last year was also one of massive innovation, from controlling the speed of light and indeed, sending it backwards, to promising advances in quantum which could revolutionise the fibre optic networks of the future. Industry Focus takes a look at these developments and more in this special section of the magazine. Last but certainly not least is a roundup of the latest predictions from leading analyst companies looking at where the markets are likely to go in 2020 and beyond. In addition to Industry Focus, this digital-only issue has the usual features including the latest news and products as well as features on training a workforce for a fibre future and an in-depth interview with the Broadband Forum’s CEO Robin Mersh and CMO Geoff Burke about the organisation’s current work and its roadmap for 2020. To cap it all off, we take a look back at the most successful and well-attended ECOC Conference and Expo to date, featuring fascinating video interviews some of the industry’s major players. Everyone on the Optical Connections and ECOC Expo teams would like to wish all our readers, supporters and advertisers a very happy and prosperous 2020. We look forward to meeting up and doing business with you all in the next 12 months. And don’t forget to mark 21st – 23rd September in your calendar, when ECOC 2020 will take place at the Brussels Expo venue. A GOOD YEAR BEHIND US, AN EVEN BETTER ONE TO COME
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Industry Focus Top Products
11 Industry Focus
2019: A Year of Innovation
14 Industry Focus FTTH Rollout
16 Industry Focus Outlook 2020
18 Peter Dykes Training
20 View from:
Broadband Forum
22 FREMCO
Promotional Feature
23 ECOC2019
27 Broadband ForumWorld 2019
28 Product News
Peter Dykes Contributing Editor, Optical Connections
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INDUSTRY FOCUS 2019/2020
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