CONTENTS
cOVeR StORY
Bienvenido Fibre has been on the rise in Spain over the last few years, with telecoms regulator CNMC (Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia) recently reporting that connections in the country have grown to 1.81 million; an increase of well over 1 million on the previous year. Good progress was also reported in the FTTH Council Europe’s 2015 ‘FTTH market panorama’ and it is here that the fibre optics community will descend for ECOC 2015; the 41st edition of ECOC and a 20th anniversary for the exhibition. This edition of Optical Connections includes an in-depth look into the event, from page 32, with key presentations and exhibitors highlighted. According to the 2015 ‘Digital Agenda Scoreboard’, published by the European Commission, there has also been a dramatic rise in European 4G coverage and high-speed broadband. Matthew Peach reports on page 14. For a long time, Silicon Photonics has been viewed as a technology with huge potential. Yet recently, there have been questions asked as to just when it will start delivering on its promise. On page 16, Roy Rubenstein highlights the companies closest to reaching the manufacturing stage and tells us not to be fooled by the apparent calm. In the first of two articles looking at passive optical networks, on page 21, John Williams celebrates G-PON’s success in the fibre-based access market. Julie Kunstler follows with an analytical forecast of PON growth for 2015, from page 22. Earlier this year, a team from Southampton’s Optoelectronics Research Centre manufactured a record breaking 11km, hollow core photonic bandgap fibre. The ORC also announced that it will make its specialised, next generation fibres, like rare-earth-doped with ultra-high dopant concentrations, available for general purchase. On page 24, Matthew Peach explains how these specialised fibres are now supporting higher transmission rates and more energy-efficient networks. There has been a surge of fibre growth amongst APAC countries, with 155m subscribers at the end of 2014 and 174m predicted by 2019. Kendrick Struthers Watson highlights the growth diversity and technology preference of this region, on page 26. FTTH and FTTB subscriptions in Europe have also risen significantly. Director General of the FTTH Council Europe, Hartwig Tuaber, reviews the developments and predictions, on page 28. On page 30, Gordon Brebner, Distinguished Engineer at Xilinx, highlights how two of the industry’s hottest topics, Software Defined Networks and Network Functions Virtualization, are set to reduce capital and operational expenditure.
4 Industry news
Issue 5 |Q32015
High-speedbroadband on theup! p14
14 High-speed broadband on the up! Matthew Peach
p16 SiliconPhotonics p18 Mellanoxdrives p20 Demandingmarkets p22 PON set for record levels p24 Refined fibres p26 FTTx empowersAPAC p28 Future-proofEurope! p30 TrendingNow
OpticalcOnnectiOns: Bringing theworld the Latest inOpticalCommunicationsNews
16 The case for Silicon Photonics Roy Rubenstein
18 Mellanox drives Per Danielsen
20 Demanding markets John Williamson
22 PON set for record levels Julie Kunstler
24 Refined fibres Matthew Peach
26 FTTx empowers APAC Kendrick Struthers-Watson
28 Future-proof Europe! Hartwig Tauber
30 Trending now Gordon Brebner
32 Event focus - ECOC
liam taylor Sales Manager
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Contributors - John Williamson, Matthew Peach, Per Danielsen, Roy Rubenstein
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