Thursday, September 16, 2010
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."
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
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 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.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
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.
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