News and perspectives from the world of fiber optic networking

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• Fiber network construction
• Fiber network design and automation

Five lessons learned in the permitting process

We’re running the risk of stating the obvious here -- reliable internet access is essential. We’ve all had the opportunity to learn this first hand throughout the COVID-19 pandemic shelter-in-place orders. If you’re a telecom engineering firm, you’ve likely felt the urgency to deploy even more fiber even faster because of the pressure being applied to current networks around the world.

But deploying a fiber network is complex and protracted. From planning to design to permitting, it can take what feels like an eternity just to make it to the construction phase. 

Article

• Fiber network construction
• Fiber network management
• Fiber network design and automation

Don't lock yourself out of your data

Proprietary data structures and closed vendor ecosystems of yesteryear are out-of-date. Today’s enterprise applications are increasingly defined on standard data structures. It’s all about openness and collaboration.

Telecom companies often focus on how hard or easy it is to get data into an asset management system - rightfully so considering ease of use is key to user adoption and quality data. But is the potential pain of adopting a new system really worth the reward? Our easy answer: yes.

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• Fiber network construction
• Fiber network management
• Fiber network design and automation

End-to-end economics of digitizing the outside plant

In the context of digital transformation, data management of conduits, strands, poles, manholes, and other elements of the outside plant have not typically been part of the discussion about the “digital network”. As network services become more dependent upon an increasingly complex network architecture, the physical network data has become more crucial for making business and operational decisions. Obtaining, documenting, and modeling the connectivity of this changing and extending network has not been easy.

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• Fiber network construction
• Fiber network management
• Fiber network design and automation

Automated Networks ≠ Autonomous Networks

To thrive in today’s hyper-competitive market, engineering companies need to transform their own work processes to the speed and data requirements of their telecom customers. They need to guide the evolution of their work processes since they cannot uproot everything at once. There will remain a need for human subject-matter-expertise, even as companies strive to reduce costs and increase flexibility. Because of this, a question frequently being asked is how engineering companies can begin to achieve better business results while moving toward automation and getting high-value expertise from their team members?

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• Fiber network construction
• Fiber network management
• Fiber network design and automation

Equipping your organization to manage complex networks

Telecom companies use the data about their physical network for asset management such as network utilization, availability, and risk mitigation. The nature of fiber networks, where cables of different count strands can be connected, and different services are delivered on different wavelengths has made network management systems built for copper and coax networks inadequate. So what is needed now for you equip your organization to make better, more informed decisions?

Article

• Fiber network construction
• Fiber network management
• Fiber network design and automation

Management solutions for the life-of-the-network

The network is a multi-generational endeavor. It is ever changing from copper and coax to fiber and wireless. From planning and designing routes and rolling out construction crews, to operating and eventually expanding the network to accommodate new offerings, service providers are looking to streamline their view and management of all their assets at every stage of their use. To ensure they are getting the greatest value out of their network, an advanced network management system will have to be implemented. But what does it mean to have management solutions for the life-of-the-network? And how is that kind of solution established?

• Fiber network construction

Densification and the math of 5G

Densification: noun (used with adjective “network”), densified, densifying

1. adding more cell sites to increase the amount of available capacity.

Without more deep fiber, carriers will be unable to support the projected increase in mobile data traffic for 5G applications. 5G is expected to provide gigabit speeds, ultra-high capacity and ultra-low latency. The skyrocketing demand for data will put 5G performance to the test. By 2021 there are forecasted to be 27.1 billion network connected devices, up from 17.1 billion in 2016. If the new network lives up to its promise it will be powering devices like automated cars, virtual reality and streaming 8K quality video. 5G is not going to operate like previous networks.

In order to carry the massive amounts of data 5G will use large radio frequencies that can hold the data needed, but only reach short distances. Those distance limitations will require network providers to build a series of small cells, likely between 200 and 1,000 feet apart. The small cells will be connected with fiber, the frequency of the small cells means providers need to get serious about densification. 

This graph shows how the number of devices that can operate on a network goes up as small cell penetration increases.

The foundation of densification to support 5G applications is the fiber infrastructure, and lots of it. The Fiber Broadband Association estimates it will take eight miles of fiber cable per square mile to connect the small cells. The largest 25 metro areas in the U-S cover 173,852 square miles, that means just to connect the antennas needed to cover those markets with 5-G service will require almost 1.4 million miles of fiber cable. Some of that fiber is already in the ground, but there is millions of more miles of infrastructure to build. Just look at Verizon’s recent actions. In 2017, the telecommunications giant announced a deal to buy no less than $1.05 billion in fiber from Corning. Under the deal Verizon will purchase up to 12.4 million miles of optical fiber from Corning every year from 2018 to 2020. 

5G is not far off, both Verizon and AT&T have plans to roll out their 5G network in select markets by the end of 2018. According to a recent report from FierceWireless, T-Mobile has its sights set on a nationwide 5G network for the U.S. in 2020. Deutsche Telekon had a live 5G connection between 4 radio cells in Berlin in 2017. The company is planning on a global launch in 2020. Two United Kingdom providers, EE and Vodafone, have similar goals for launching their 5G services. Spanish company Telefonica’s target is an initial deployment in the UK in 2020 or 2021, followed by Germany and Spain. There will have to be a lot of new fiber put in the ground for those plans to become a reality. Densification for 5G means larger, more complex networks. With more network assets to manage, and larger networks to design you need the tools to make your organization more efficient.

Key Takeaways: Densification is about putting more network resources in the same amount of space. Densification is ultimately a means of delivering high-quality, high-speed services users of 5G applications will need. 

Article

• Fiber network construction
• Telecom technologies

Bringing fiber to the city: cable de-coring

Are you ready for another new fiber deployment method? We’ve been focusing on technologies and methods being developed for fiber network densification projects in preparation for 5G, IoT, Smart Cities, and more. Thus far, we’ve touched on micro-trenching, and 200µm fiber and collapsible ribbon. This week’s topic: cable de-coring.

Getting permits approved. Rerouting traffic. Interrupting pedestrians. Digging up and repaving roads. It all sounds fun right? Not so much.