All New Homes In China Must Have Fiber Optic Internet Connections

Only a small number of U.S. cities can boast fiber optic connections, but in China, it's either fiber or bust. China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has now ordered all newly built residences to install fiber optic connections in any city or county 'where a public fiber optic telecom network is available.' The new standards will take effect starting on April 1, 2013, and residents will be able to choose their own ISP with equal connections to services. The Chinese government reportedly hopes to have 40 million families connected to fiber networks by 2015.

The most exciting thing to happen to the world of cleaning fiber optics since…EVER!

Linden Photonics introduces a new cleaning media that revolutionizes the way you clean fiber optics.  Lindex is a nanomaterial that drastically improves the effectiveness of a simple cleaning tool.  This patent pending technology has been specifically designed to clean all of the most difficult to remove contamination.

Traditional fiber optic swabs have a cotton or foam material at the cleaning end.  These cleaning materials have little to no absorption and effectively move around the contamination.

Linden Photonics has made the first true innovation to fiber optic cleaning media, using Carbon NanoTubes to actually adhere to and absorb contamination.

·        Dry Adhesive works with or without solvents

·        No cross contamination

·        More than 10 times the cleaning power of existing materials

The Lindex swab is designed for easy cleaning of fiber optic receptacles or ferrules located within adapters. The swab is coated with our patent pending nanomaterial. Sizes are available for most existing ferrules.

Contact Linden Photonics for more information or to order this revolutionary cleaning tool. info@lindenphotonics.com 978-392-7985

See the power of a Lindex swab for yourself!

Foreign Companies Entering the US Market

There are many companies manufacturing fiber optic products trying to enter the US market; companies from China, Japan, Europe and South America. I have been to hundreds of websites and seen one bad English version after the next. The most simple problem and the easiest to solve is poor translation into English. A US customer wants to feel that you are familiar with this market and will be easy to interface with. You cannot convey that feeling if your website does not communicate well.

I have been in the industry for 17 years and know the terminology inside and out. Let me proof your website and edit the English content. I have extensive experience dealing with overseas vendors and customers and I know what communicates well in the fiber optics industry. Please contact me to find out more about my services and how I can help you increase revenue here in the USA.

Stephen O'Riorden

steveoriorden@gmail.com

3M Teams up with FiberZone to Sell Automated Fiber Management System for the Data Center

AUSTIN, Texas--Today, 3M announced a strategic business alliance with FiberZone Networks, the leading provider of Automated Fiber Management (AFM) solutions, to bring its AFM system to the data center market.

From always-on movies to data storage in the cloud to corporate and consumer digital archives, managing the data infrastructure has become a critical discipline for today’s enterprises. A single outage can affect thousands of customers and significantly impact the revenue of network and cloud providers.

The AFM system from FiberZone Networks enables remote provisioning of a data center’s fiber network, avoiding the operational costs and downtime associated with manual operation of traditional patch panels. This allows data center operators to dynamically manage fiber connectivity based on load requirements and customer needs, enabling on-demand services and new service offerings – such as managed cage and expedited cross-connect services – along with the reliability, flexibility, fault tolerance and management for the fiber infrastructure that manual patching cannot offer.

Key to the AFM product reliability and stable performance is the patented Latched Optical Coupling (LOC™) technology. This technology creates a secure, physical optical fiber connection within the system which can be changed to a different port configuration on-demand through a software interface or programmed automatically. The fibers can be re-arranged in a NxN, non-blocking manner.

Multi-tenant data center operators, and tenants in these facilities, can optimize their operational expenditures and revenue using AFM from FiberZone Networks to minimize downtime and increase service offerings.

3M has entered into a strategic business alliance with FiberZone Networks to offer the Automated Fiber Management with Latched Optical Coupling to the data center market as an authorized sales representative.

“The FiberZone Networks AFM system uniquely addresses an emerging issue in data center infrastructure management and is a perfect complement to our own growing portfolio of solutions for data centers,” said Gordon Wiegand, 3M Communication Markets Division business development manager. “3M’s global reach, combined with FiberZone Networks’ industry-first fiber management system will help data center operators worldwide facilitate the transition to cloud data management while delivering operational efficiencies.”

“3M is one of the world’s most reputable companies and we’re proud to sell our solution alongside their market-leading products to the data center market,” said Gady Rosenfeld, vice president of Business Development and Marketing at FiberZone Networks. “3M’s scale and global reach will allow us to offer our AFM system to more customers and in new markets around the world.”

3M already offers a broad and rapidly growing portfolio of solutions for data centers, including high-speed copper, fiber and active optical cabling solutions which utilize leading-edge technologies to provide flexibility, high-performance and value. Additional products from 3M for data centers include next generation, sustainable fire protection fluid; static control products and services; medium voltage cable assemblies used for data center construction and biometric security systems.

Founded in 2003, FiberZone Networks is a privately-held corporation with offices in the United States and Israel. The company is backed by international, communications-industry focused venture capital firms Novak Biddle Venture Partners and the S-Group.

FiberZone Networks’ AFM system has been deployed by leading data center and network operators in the United States, Asia and Europe. The AFM system won the prestigious Red Herring Top-100 North American award for innovative ideas and most recently was selected as one of the Top-100 Red Herring Global award winners.

Buoyant Fiber Optics

Unless you're in the industry you would not believe how much fiber optics is used in the ocean. There are many important design considerations that one doesn't have to be concerned about in normal terrestrial fiber optic deployment. One of which is buoyancy.

Learn more about what Linden Photonics is doing here.

New Cleaning Material for Fiber Optic Connectors

It's been too long since my last post and there are plenty of interesting things going on in the world of fiber optics. Check out this new material being developed by Linden Photonics to clean fiber optic connectors. This stuff is the first big advancement in cleaning technology since dirt was invented. It looks pretty cool and I can't wait to learn more.

Check out the video here

Fiber Connections receives US patent for GatorLink products

January 17, 2011

Fiber Connections Inc., a supplier of custom active and passive optical connectivity and conversion solutions, announced today that it received a US patent on its GatorLink media converters. Patent #7,837,397, officially received on Nov. 23, 2010, highlights the company’s commitment to connectivity innovation. GatorLink products provide a robust, modular option for taking optical fiber and power to a remote location for media conversion and distribution to up to 6 devices such as security cameras, wireless access points, VoIP phones and much more.

Larry Fingler, Fiber Connections President says, “Our GatorLink was based on our already successful Gator Patch products, which we patented in 1999. The rise in demand for small, flexible PoE extensions, drove us to develop the GatorLink and our entire Chameleon network solution.”

“The award of the GatorLink patent brings us to a total of 4 unique, patented products.” said Geoff Laycock, VP Sales and Marketing. “This is one more thing that confirms our commitment to technical excellence and innovation in fiber optic products.”

The GatorLink product is currently sold as either a stand-alone unit as part of a Chameleon network installation and offers a wide range of features including custom connector options and network monitoring via the Fiber Connections “Net-Map” system.

The patent statement indicates that the GatorLink is a “Digital Signal Media Conversion Panel” and the summary reads, in part:

‘A multi-port patch panel that comprises a housing, a multi-fiber optical cable input arrangement at least partially received in the housing, a plurality of media converters within the housing with each media converter having a fiber optic transceiver attached to fibers of the multi-fiber optic cable input arrangement and a plurality of connectors secured in the housing for connecting equipment to the patch panel using a conventional electrical signal connection. Each of the connectors is in communication with one of the media converters. The patch panel includes a separate power supply, connectable with the housing for providing power to the media converters.’

Fiber Connections Inc. designs and manufactures a wide range of optical connectivity, distribution and media conversion hardware. Corporate headquarters is in Schomberg, Ontario Canada with a manufacturing facility in Prince Edward Island, Canada, a US office in Manassas, VA and an EMEA office in the Netherlands.

Media Contact:

Lee Kellett

Fiber Connections

508-728-5599

800-353-1127

Lee.kellett@fiberc.com

NBN Co. inks Corning, Prysmian for Australian NBN FTTH fiber

JANUARY 17, 2010 -- NBN Co., the company established to oversee construction of Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN), has signed contracts with Corning Cable Systems Pty. Ltd. and Prysmian to supply fiber for the FTTH project.

The Australian arm of Corning Cable Systems received the larger deal. The company reports an initial order of AUS $400 million (US $398 million) from a contract with a potential total value of AUS $1.2 billion ($US 1.19 billion). Corning will supply its FlexNAP terminal distribution system with RPX ribbon cable for aerial installations and its ALTOS ribbon cable for underground installations.

NBN Co. granted Prysmian an initial order worth AUS $150 million (US $149 million) on a contract with a potential total value of AUS $300 million (US $298.4 million) for the supply of ribbon and other multi-fiber cables. In turn, Prysmian will invest around €10 million (US $13.3 million) to manufacture the cables at its facility in Dee Why, Australia as part of a commitment to source in Australia approximately 80% of the value of its NBN contract.

With the signing of the cabling contracts, most of the major items would appear to be in place. NBN Co. has already signed deals with Alcatel-Lucent for GPON hardware as well as with Nokia Siemens.

The controversial NBN FTTH government project aims to create an open-access fiber optic network that will pass 93 percent of Australian homes and businesses within the next 10 years. The project has so far withstood repeated attempts to either scale it back or stop it completely, and was one of the major issues in Australia’s most recent national elections.

Prysmian launches public offer for Draka shares

JANUARY 6, 2011-- The potential battle for control of Draka Holding NV is underway, as Prysmian has launched its public offer for ordinary shares of the Dutch fiber and cable manufacturer. Meanwhile, upstart bidder Tianjin Xinmao S&T Investment Corp. Ltd. asserted December 20 that it too would proceed with its proposed bid, Bloomberg and other media outlets reported. However, the company seems unexcited about the prospects of initiating a hostile takeover.

Prysmian is offering €8.60 in cash plus 0.6595 newly issued Prysmian ordinary shares for each Draka ordinary share. That equates to a total transaction value of €840 million. Xinmao, with backing from China Minsheng Banking Corp. and Rabobank, has offered an all-cash package worth €1 billion.

Prysmian’s offer is valid from today through February 3. An extraordinary meeting of Draka shareholders will take place January 26 to discuss the Prysmian offer.

Prysmian first announced that Draka had accepted its offer November 22, 2010. However, the offer contained an out clause that, for a price, would enable Draka to accept competing offers. Xinmao seized the opportunity almost immediately to announce its larger bid.

Despite the lower value of the offer, Draka has stuck with Prysmian as its preferred purchaser. “In determining its position, the Boards have also taken into consideration the positive advice received on 4 January 2011 from Draka's central works council, the current status of the discussions with Xinmao and the conditionality and execution risks attached to both the existing Offer by Prysmian and the potential offer by Xinmao,” Draka stated in a release issued yesterday.

“Draka has not received any further updates on the status of Xinmao’s potential offer since Xinmao’s press release, dated 20 December 2010,” the statement added. Bloomberg quoted Joop Krant of Catalyst Advisors, Xinmao’s financial advisor in the potential transaction, as saying Xinmao would not launch a hostile bid for Draka.

FTTH in US

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 -- In his semi-annual State of the FTTH Union update, RVA Market Research’s Michael Render told attendees at the FTTH Conference in Las Vegas that 6.45 million households in North America receive services via fiber to the home (FTTH) networks. Render’s research, sponsored by the FTTH Council North America, also shows that FTTH infrastructure passes nearly 20 million North American homes.The 6.45 million connection figure represents a six-month increase of just under 650,000. The number of current homes passed -- 19,966,000 – compares to an estimated 18,250,000 homes last March. All told, FTTH networks pass approximately 17.4% of North American homes and connect to just under 6%.Meanwhile, Verizon’s announcement that it will slow its FTTH deployments has been offset by smaller carriers and municipalities, many of whom will scale their efforts as broadband stimulus money kicks in."All indications are that a large number of small and medium-sized telecoms and other broadband providers -- more than 750 by our count -- have either upgraded to FTTH or are in the process of doing so," said Joe Savage, outgoing president of the FTTH Council. "In addition, our earlier surveys show that the vast majority of the remaining telecoms are seriously considering going all-fiber in the next several years."Michael Render of RVA, who conducted the survey, noted that "the number of homes passed by FTTH networks has expanded by 100 times since the FTTH Council was founded nine years ago, with growth really beginning to accelerate in 2005."

FTTH in US

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 -- In his semi-annual State of the FTTH Union update, RVA Market Research’s Michael Render told attendees at the FTTH Conference in Las Vegas that 6.45 million households in North America receive services via fiber to the home (FTTH) networks. Render’s research, sponsored by the FTTH Council North America, also shows that FTTH infrastructure passes nearly 20 million North American homes.The 6.45 million connection figure represents a six-month increase of just under 650,000. The number of current homes passed -- 19,966,000 – compares to an estimated 18,250,000 homes last March. All told, FTTH networks pass approximately 17.4% of North American homes and connect to just under 6%. Meanwhile, Verizon’s announcement that it will slow its FTTH deployments has been offset by smaller carriers and municipalities, many of whom will scale their efforts as broadband stimulus money kicks in."All indications are that a large number of small and medium-sized telecoms and other broadband providers -- more than 750 by our count -- have either upgraded to FTTH or are in the process of doing so," said Joe Savage, outgoing president of the FTTH Council. "In addition, our earlier surveys show that the vast majority of the remaining telecoms are seriously considering going all-fiber in the next several years."Michael Render of RVA, who conducted the survey, noted that "the number of homes passed by FTTH networks has expanded by 100 times since the FTTH Council was founded nine years ago, with growth really beginning to accelerate in 2005."

Back in Business...for now.

Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN), placed in limbo when national elections failed to create a clear majority government, is back on after the incumbent Labor Party won the backing of enough Green and independent members of Parliament to stay in power.
Labor and the independents who back the party now control 76 of the 150 seats in the Australian Parliament.
NBN Co., the company created to manage the NBN's construction, naturally welcomed the news. "The team at NBN Co has been working on business as usual in the post-election period, while limiting discretionary expenditure, extending the deadline for some tenders and putting the award of several tenders on hold," the company said in a press statement. "We will now work to restore deferred processes, including the recruitment of staff."
Alcatel-Lucent, which won a contact to supply GPON FTTH gear for the NBN, is undoubtedly happy as well.
According to ITNews of Australia, at least two of the critical members of Parliament cited the NBN as a factor in backing Labor. A deal between Labor and the independents covering uniform national wholesale prices for the NBN and priority infrastructure rollout in regional areas was crucial to gaining the independents' support, ITNews says.

Australia's NBN on hold

The Sydney Morning Herald and Dow Jones Newswire reports that NBN Co., the organization administering the Australian Government's National Broadband Network, has put the project on hold after national elections in Australia failed to produce a clear majority in Parliament.
The incumbent Labor Government had launched the NBN at a projected cost of AUS$43 billion. However, the opposition Conservative Party offered a plan of its own, reduced both in scale and cost ($6.3 billion).
According to the two news organizations, NBN Co. issued a statement saying that it would not award any "significant" new contracts or issue "significant" new tenders. Existing operations will continue.
A copy of the announcement had not yet been posted on the NBN site at the time of this writing.
Alcatel-Lucent recently won a contract from NBN Co. worth at least AUS$70 million for GPON gear. Needless to say, the total value of that deal now becomes uncertain.

The Connector

http://www.connector.com/

Verizon trial of fiber-optic network reaches nearly 1Gbit/sec.

Verizon today said a fiber-optic field trial it conducted in June for a business customer in Taunton, Mass., delivered near gigabit-per-second speeds.
The customer received 925Mbit/sec. throughput to a server at its business location from a Verizon central office less than two miles away, Verizon officials said. Speeds of 800Mbit/sec. were recorded to regional speed test servers 400 miles away.
Verizon has reached higher speeds in laboratory tests using the gigabit passive optical network (GPON) switches and other gear developed by Motorola that Verizon has been installing for two years, but this is the first publicized field trial.
The nearly gigabit-per-second speeds could rival speeds expected in Google's "Think Big with a Gig" experimental fiber-optic network first announced in February that has drawn interest from more than 1,100 communities nationwide.
Google wants to set up a fiber network trial in one or more locations with 1Gbit/sec. connections to 50,000 to 500,000 people. Google is expected to announce the location by the end of the year.
The Verizon trial, however, is based on an existing network, a Verizon spokesman noted. "We are not competing with things [Google is] planning," said the spokesman, Philip Santoro. "They may be thinking about competing with things we already have. We have the network in place today."
The customer in the trial was not named. The trial was intended to demonstrate in a live network setting that Verizon's currently deployed FiOS gear can support higher-bandwidth services for 3DTV, desktop virtualization, remote storage and wireless backhaul without a major change to the network.
FiOS is offered at a speed of 50Mbit/sec. to business and residential customers. Verizon officials could not say when or even whether faster speeds like those in the Taunton field trial might be offered, or whether the additional capacity might be used by Verizon to ensure gradual increases in system capacity as more users and bandwidth-hungry applications tax the network.
The GPON platform is intended to go beyond the rating of the field trial -- up to 2.4Gbit/sec. downstream and 1.2Gbit/sec. upstream -- although such speeds have not been seen in the field using Verizon's network.
Vincent O'Byrne, director of Verizon's technology group, said in a statement that the trial demonstrated that the GPON platform can be used to progressively increase fiber-optic throughput capacity as needed by both residential and business customers.
Verizon did not describe the level of bandwidth to each individual user in the field trial.

Undersea Fiber Cable to Connect LA to Auckland

AUKLAND, New Zealand—Pacific Fibre Limited, partnered with Pacnet, Asia’s leader in telecommunication services, recently announced plans to jointly build a subsea fiber optic cable between New Zealand, Australia, and the United States.The proposed plan for 8,450 miles of cable is expected to cost around $400 million and will connect Sydney, Auckland, and Los Angeles with 5.12 Terabits/sec of capacity initially, upgradable to over 12 Terabits/sec.Currently, poor bandwidth in New Zealand isn’t able to handle certain applications and prices for bandwidth paid by Australians and New Zealanders are high when compared internationally.According to Pacific Fibre’s website, the aim of the cable is "to make fast, inexpensive, [and] unlimited broadband a reality.” The companies will award the contract to the vendor to build the cable in the coming months.The new cable is expected to be ready for service in 2013.

Level 3 Expands Oprations in Boston

BOSTON, Jun 03, 2010 -- Level 3 Communications, Inc. today announced that it has expanded its operations and is enhancing its local presence in Boston. This initiative reflects Level 3's ongoing commitment to enhancing its presence in local markets throughout the country, with the goal of providing mid-market enterprises with a world-class customer experience.
"It's encouraging to see Level 3 invest in Boston and bring local businesses competitive solutions for a broad range of communication services," said Brenda MacDonald, senior vice president of carrier operations for TNCI, Inc. "While much of the industry is focused on operational consolidation, Level 3's local approach demonstrates their commitment toward meeting their customers' region-specific needs."
In support of this local-expansion effort, Level 3 is growing and realigning its local workforce in Boston to combine a local presence, in-depth marketplace knowledge and broad expertise in the communications industry. Through a combination of its extensive backbone network, metro fiber-optic footprint, and a locally focused sales and customer support team, Level 3 provides greater opportunities for mid-market enterprises to take advantage of Level 3's broad portfolio of communications services.
"Boston is a unique market and one that is a crucial part of our local strategy," said Tracy Davis, Level 3's general manager for New England. "Offering industry expertise and a local marketplace knowledge gleaned from our on-the-ground support team, Level 3 is committed to continually improving the customer experience in Boston and providing high-quality communications services that offer a competitive alternative for local businesses."
The company plans to add capacity to the network in the region and expand the number of businesses that are directly connected to the Level 3 network. This expansion will provide mid-market enterprises with access to the full suite of Level 3 services and allow them to quickly and easily increase their bandwidth as business needs grow. The expansion of operations in Boston marks the continuation of a locally focused strategy that Level 3 launched successfully in mid-2009.

Mexico telco could spend $186 mln on fiber network Thu, May 27 2010 MEXICO CITY, May 27 (Reuters) - Mexico telco could spend $186 mln on fiber network

US court rules against FCC on `net neutrality'

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal appeals court has ruled that the Federal Communications Commission lacks the authority to require broadband providers to give equal treatment to all Internet traffic flowing over their networks.
Tuesday's ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is a big victory for Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable company. It had challenged the FCC's authority to impose so called "net neutrality" obligations.
It marks a serious setback for the FCC, which needs authority to regulate the Internet in order to push ahead with key parts of its massive national broadband plan.

Telstra to Upgrade Melbournew to Sydney Link

JULY 14, 2009 -- Telstra says it will upgrade the capacity of the Next IP network between Melbourne and Sydney to cope with a tenfold increase in network traffic volumes between the two cities.
Michael Rocca, group managing director, Telstra Networks & Services, said the upgrade will use Ericsson optical transmission technology to accommodate growing transmission demand on the inter-capital route.
"In the past five years, IP traffic on the inter-capital routes has grown tenfold and while this is not having any detrimental impact on our customers, it is imperative that we keep ahead of the surge in demand for the carriage of voice, data and video," Rocca said.
"Australian organizations are realizing the tremendous productivity benefits achievable with the Telstra IP network. Upon completion in March 2010, we expect these will be the fastest and highest-capacity transmission links available in Australia, providing four times the capacity available today and helping keep Telstra customers head and shoulders ahead above the rest for many years to come."
Demand on telecommunication networks is generally focused on capital cities as a result of greater population and the concentration of international voice and data links in those areas.
The upgrade will increase the capacity of Telstra's existing DWDM transmission technology from 10 to 40 Gbps and will use underlying optical fiber infrastructure without requiring major changes to the network.
Telstra will use Ericsson's Marconi MHL 3000 DWDM platform for the upgrade.