The UK government has released the findings of its latest research, which estimates a £9 billion turnover increase for local businesses in areas covered by its rollout of superfast broadband.
CommScope has upgraded its microwave antenna portfolio with the introduction of two new long-haul antenna product lines – USX and HX – into its Sentinel and ValuLine ranges. These are designed to ultimately replace the company’s existing long-haul antennas, providing next generation performance for cellular, broadcast, telecom and private networks.
CommScope has demonstrated augmented reality (AR) capabilities with its imVision automated infrastructure management solution which will soon allow customers to ‘see into their local area networks.
Over the last year, you may have heard proponents espouse the benefits of OM4+ multimode fibre. For instance, they claim it is better for single-wavelength applications, and it’s comparable to OM5 for multiwavelength application support. While OM4+ may have some useful attributes, which vary from company to company, that variation is a clue to the fact that in all cases it is proprietary, meaning it is not standardised. Essentially, the public is being asked to take OM4+ proponents at their word. As New York Yankees legend Yogi Berra once said, ‘It’s like déjà vu all over again’.
OFS and CommScope have entered into a new eight-year partnership to help ensure the availability of optical fibre supply to CommScope for use in its customers’ networks. The specific terms of the agreement have not been publicly disclosed, but it represents an investment from both companies in order to address the increased demand for greater bandwidth.
Modern hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) cable access networks are very different to their original home television delivery-focussed incarnation, observes Alberto Campos, distinguished technologist at CableLabs, in Louisville, Colorado. ‘Broadcast TV demand has been decreasing,’ he told Fibre Systems. ‘Online or on-demand viewing and broadband internet have been increasing and are the biggest residential items.’ Our appetite for data seems insatiable, with internet connection speeds accelerating at approximately 45 per cent annually, he says.
To meet the challenges associated with escalating data rates and the ongoing need for higher bandwidth in the data centre, CommScope has introduced SYSTIMAX cabling and connectivity products based on its LazrSPEED 550 WideBand multimode fibre (WBMMF).
CommScope demonstrated the capabilities of the new fibre alongside Finisar’s new short-wavelength division multiplexing (SWDM) transceivers at OFC 2015. The emerging WBMMF standard enables up to four times more bandwidth at longer distances than standard multimode fibre.
Cost and compatibility can make a compelling case for pushing 100Gb/s bandwidth over a single optical channel, both as individual links and supporting 400Gb/s Ethernet, finds Andy Extance
Robin Mersh takes a look at how the industry is creating next-generation optical access fit for 5G
Technological advances to aid the increasing demand for bandwidth, on the path towards the terabit network, should lead to optical signals that are flexible and adaptive, like water, argues Dr Maxim Kuschnerov and Dr Yin Wang