Autumn 2020 - Optical Connections Magazine

Autumn 2020 - Optical Connections Magazine

Bringing the World the Latest in Optical Communications News

ISSUE 22 | Q4 2020

Developments in connector tech | p8 CONNECTIVITY

THE VIEW FROM INDIGO Designing optical networks | p12

UPGRADING HFC NETWORKS The journey towards 10G | p16

ECOC 2020 PREVIEW Big bash in Brussels | p28

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CONTENTS

CHANGE DRIVES INNOVATION Welcome to the Autumn issue of Optical Connections. 2020 has certainly been a year of massive uncertainty and change, and the fibre optic communications industry has not escaped. Trade expo’s, the industry’s chance to meet together, network and do business face to face, have either been postponed or moved online. Indeed, ECOC 2020 is no exception, having been postponed until 7th – 9th December, albeit with extensive safety measures implemented at the venue by the Brussels Expo management team (see page 29). Change has come to the wider industry too, in the form of an exponential growth in demand for broadband capacity, which in turn is driving innovation and development in several areas of the fibre optic communications industry. In this issue, we examine some of the technologies that are taking the industry forward. Starting from first principles, we look at how optical networks are designed and planned with Indigo’s project director Nick Naughton . Appropriate connectivity is also vital but basic requirement and Peter Dykes takes a look at what connectors are currently in use and the challenges developments in cable technology are presenting to connector vendors. Of course, once optical networks are up and running, they need to be kept that way and MicroCare’s SVP Jay Tourigny offers some invaluable advice on maintaining reliability. Not all networks are built from scratch however, and often evolve from older technologies. A prime example is hybrid cable/fibre (HFC) networks and in a thought-provoking feature, Emmanuel Vella , VP Sales N&C Europe at CommScope discusses how HFC network migration can be managed on the road to 10G. The capacity demand, made more ever more pressing with the onset of 5G and IoT, is also driving operators to look for new efficiencies in their networks by re- architecting network infrastructure. Perhaps the hottest topic in terms of network efficiency is network disaggregation, a topic explored by veteran telecoms journalist John Williamson . Greater efficiency is also required for transmission between cloud >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40

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