News and perspectives from the world of fiber optic networking

Podcast

• API

Consider APIs as part of your fiber network management strategy

Data protection, increased revenue generation, and improved customer experience are just a few of the many advantages that Communications Service Providers (CSPs) can count on when they enable their network management systems to open up to other business processes and applications through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). On a recent Fiberside Chat episode, guests Michael Measels, Vice President of Product Management at 3-GIS, and Matt Sherrod, GTM Americas Service Provider at Blue Planet, joined host Hilary Kennedy to discuss customers’ desired shift from traditional models of fiber network management to open systems.

• Cloud security

Cloud security-Part 1:Preparation and strategy for cloud security

$74.6 billion. That’s the estimated amount to be spent on cloud IT infrastructure in 2021, according to Statista¹. The explosive growth of cloud services is creating a unique set of challenges for enterprises seeking improved ways to secure their data.  

• GIS

Faster Network Deployment with Real-Time GIS Integration

The hard and soft costs of changing to real-time data management

Article

• Fiber network management
• Data integrity

Three simple considerations to promote fiber network data integrity

It may come as little surprise that communications service providers (CSPs) have experienced increases in operational efficiency by transforming their fiber records from paper and disparate digital files to fiber management specific programs and applications. In the Digital Transformation Tracker 5 report published in 2021 by TM Forum nearly “40% of CSP executives said they are well along the road and reaping significant benefits from [digital] transformation.” (1)

Podcast

• Cloud security

The playbook for tackling cloud security in 2021

It should go without saying that many, if not most, companies have had to make some changes in the last 18 months. In an era when most facets of life are marked by a pandemic, remote-first culture, the ideology of having employees work from home, has had widespread adoption. In order for this to work, employees need access to data and work files from wherever they are working. This has led many companies to either adopt, or increase, working from the cloud. Whether or not this was the case previously, there are many reasons a company should not rush into it without a strategy and some specific considerations.

Podcast

• Fiber network construction
• As-built
• Communications service providers

Tackling common challenges in the telecommunications industry

Because of the complexity of fiber, many of the common challenges faced by communication service providers (CSPs) today revolve around managing physical network assets. Historically, CSPs have often struggled with getting as-built records at the conclusion of the fiber rollout; but the necessity and growth of fiber has brought this issue further into the spotlight. As-builts are vital to avoiding unexpected expenses during deployment, particularly when construction strays from initial plans and designs.

Article

• Fiber network management
• Telecom technologies
• GIS
• Podcast

The value of GIS in the telecom enterprise

Telecommunications is one of the fastest-growing GIS markets in the world.  So fast, in fact, it has a forecasted compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.0% from 2021-2026. A large part of this growth is due to the need for stakeholders to understand the network structure on a near real-time basis.

Article

• Fiber network construction
• Fiber network design and automation

Checkpoints to confirm constructibility

Engineering firms aim to put their best resources on their most complex design projects. That is, they assign their top notch engineers and best software to meet the time and cost requirements. But even the most experienced design engineers need a few good rules of thumb to ensure the constructibility of the deliverable. We’ll share four of our team’s checkpoints that help deliver projects that streamline the processes to service activation.