News and perspectives from the world of fiber optic networking

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. 

Article

• Fiber network construction
• Telecom technologies

Bringing fiber to the city: 200µm fiber and collapsible ribbon

This series is centered around technologies and methods being developed for network densification projects as communities across the world prepare for the 5G revolution. This push for higher speeds and lower latency has driven the creation and implementation of many new technologies and construction trends that will allow for easier deployment of fiber networks. The first trend we discussed was the use of micro-trenching in infrastructure construction. If you missed that post, you can read it here. This week, we’ll discuss the use of collapsible ribbon and 200µm cables.

Article

• Fiber network construction
• Fiber network design and automation

How to build a framework for changing your engineering workflow and adopting machine-prescribed designs

Simply put, change is hard. In a business environment with customer requirements for faster deployments and reduced costs, along with more complex technologies and hardened available staff, the path to change seems inconceivable.  Yet, survival requires change. 3-GIS | Prospector planning and design applications can deliver the change you desire, and will address speed, costs, complexity, and resource issues. To help you make the change, we are sharing the six steps we have learned from experience implementing a human-in-the-loop network engineering process that combines 3-GIS | Prospector with network design engineers.

Article

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

Eliminating the risks of bridging the digital divide

Winning an RDOF block in the upcoming auction is a priority for many co-ops and rural telecom providers right now. Building and expanding rural networks, however, can come with potential risks and questions for which these potential bid-winners are trying to plan. In an effort to erase rural connectivity concerns, 3-GIS offers software solutions that will help de-risk these companies' projects and eliminate the uncertainties behind bridging the digital divide.

Article

• Fiber network construction

Bringing fiber to the city: micro-trenching

As the telecommunications industry moves to expand their fiber networks to meet the market's demand for increased bandwidth to provide higher speeds and lower latency, it has caused an increase in the use of micro-trenching in infrastructure construction. Two of the most common barriers to fiber deployment within a city usually revolve around construction cost and community disruption. In the past, city councils had few options for deploying fiber to the home outside of shutting down streets to dig up, on average, 30-by-30-inch trenches, causing, as you could imagine, much disruption and an increase in the budget.

Article

• Fiber network construction

Densification and the math of 5G

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.

Article

• Fiber network construction

Construction ride out and FTTx deployments

3-GIS often times finds itself providing both consulting and implementation services to support construction rideout (CRO) activities.  Interestingly, many of our customers approach these activities using different workflows and processes to yield essentially the same result.  3-GIS outlines the methodologies to consider if you are interested in developing a FTTH deployment strategy.