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Fiber Connect 2026 confirmed what teams across the industry are already feeling: the U.S. fiber build is still very much in motion. Across the show floor, conversations were direct, operators were engaged, and the teams responsible for building, managing, and scaling networks were asking harder questions about the tools they rely on.
Last month, I had the opportunity to attend Esri's Telecom Domain Network (TDN) Knowledge Transfer session in Rotterdam. While others from the 3-GIS team have attended two separate Knowledge Transfer sessions in Redlands, CA in 2025, this was my first exposure to the model at a deep technical level, working directly with the Esri team and other partners who are actively engaging in its evolution.
The latest telecom release of 3-GIS | Web, Lio 1, is here, bringing updates across the interface, equipment modeling, and day-to-day workflows.
From a redesigned interface to expanded equipment modeling and workflow improvements, Lio 1 focuses on making tasks simpler and more consistent across the network.
Here are a few highlights.
The Esri Infrastructure Management & GIS Conference (IMGIS) brought together telecom, utility, and infrastructure professionals looking to build smarter, more connected networks.
For 3-GIS, this year marked a milestone. With the addition of our full utility product line, both telecom and utility teams came together under one roof for the first time. That shared presence reflected what’s happening across the industry as fiber and utility networks converge, facing the same challenges in data accuracy, field coordination, and system integration.
When Esri introduced the Telecom Domain Network (TDN), it marked an important step forward for modeling communication networks within the ArcGIS Utility Network (commonly referred to as the UN). At the same time, it also raises new questions about how the TDN relates to existing fiber asset management systems, including 3-GIS | Web.
3-GIS has long worked within the Esri ecosystem to help telecom providers get the most from GIS technology. With the TDN emerging, we’re helping lead the conversation on what it means for the future of network management.
When people talk about fiber networks, the spotlight usually goes to the cable itself. But ducts, the conduit that carries it all, may be the most undervalued asset in the ground. Managed well, they can speed up deployments, extend the life of infrastructure, and even open up new revenue streams through leasing. Managed poorly, they become a bottleneck that slows projects and inflates costs.
The stakes are high for fiber service providers: contracts come with strict service-level agreements (SLAs), customer expectations around reliability are increasing, and the cost of delayed fault response, both in dollars and reputation, is growing. Fiber may be more resilient than copper, but it’s not immune to cuts, degradation, or equipment impacts.
But even with sophisticated systems in place, many operators are still relying on manual fault response workflows—waiting for alarms to stack up, dispatching trucks without a confirmed location, or hearing about issues from customers first.
It’s an approach that isn’t just inefficient—it’s costly too.
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Whether rolling out networks to dense urban MDUs (multi-dwelling units) or extending the last mile to rural households, telcos are navigating a minefield of evolving infrastructure, tight delivery deadlines, and increasing demand for accelerated service turn-up. Amidst this whirlwind, one element stands out as a surprisingly pivotal force in keeping operations efficient and accurate: real-time network diagramming.
