1-Market Developments

1: Welcome To This Lesson.
Welcome to Lesson 1, Market Trends and Development. In this lesson, we will look at the
market trends and developments impacting Fiber Optic systems.
Copyright © 2018 CommScope Inc and Cabling Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
2: New Apps Are Changing the Way We...
Clearly the world is changing. Technology is revolutionizing almost every aspect of our lives with
new applications changing the way we live, work, play and learn. Behind the technology
revolution, you'll find networks and behind the networks, you'll find people. People wanting to
connect and communicate.
3: Disruptive Technology Direction.

Technology drives richer applications needing greater bandwidth and improved network
infrastructure. Optical bandwidth will continue to increase as well as processing power which
means the devices attached will tax the network. More complex storage capabilities connected
to the network will also drain or strain the network, so information access via the infrastructure
and reliable transport of information across the network is vital. A robust high quality cabling
infrastructure is the foundation. These three trends reflect sustained improvements across the
network that drive the need for the infrastructure to keep pace. Optical transmission capabilities
continue to double roughly every nine months, requiring an increase in optical backbone
bandwidth. Storage capability doubles about once a year, driving increases in Storage Area
Network, Direct Access Storage, and Network Attached Storage connectivity and reliable
access to the network. Computer processing capabilities are also improving, taking advantage
of increases in bandwidth - driving the importance of ensuring the network infrastructure we
have is going to be able to cope.
4: IP Enabled User Devices.

The number of networked devices is growing fast, not only in both the commercial and public
sectors but also in the home and our schools. Here are just a few of the IP-enabled end-user
devices that are now being connected to networks. These are all pushing up demands on the
network and infrastructure bandwidth. The list of devices is growing all the time, increasing data
traffic to the edge of the network.
5: A Changing World: Convergence.
A common theme in the convergence of network and wireless systems is the expanded use of
IP (Internet Protocol) to enable communication between a wide array of devices, and as we
know from traditional networking today, this in turn will drive the use of standard infrastructure
solutions for other systems. This makes the move to a common network and infrastructure for
voice/data and wireless systems much easier. Not only does using one high performance
infrastructure to replace several dedicated ones save money today, it also opens the way to
greater savings in the future. High quality, standards-based infrastructures will easily support
growing numbers of mobile devices, cameras, sensors and controllers needed by new systems.
Well designed, high bandwidth infrastructure systems can support and be adapted to the needs
of legacy systems today, while also meeting the requirements of vital systems for 20 years or
more. For the wireless networks, use of high performance coax and fiber optic connectivity
enables easy migration from legacy cellular networks to 3G, 4G, LTE and 5G as they become
the norm.
6: Our Vision for Connectivity Solutions.

The network, whether it be wired or wireless is the 'fourth utility' that makes a connected society
and connected businesses possible. The consolidation of networks and their applications brings
together several services or resources within one physical or virtual location. We see, for
instance, cable and satellite TV companies offering telephone and broadband internet services.
We see media companies buying into social networking and search companies buying into
video sharing. This is driving demand for central storage and data center/head end facilities.
Some commentators and vendors try to create an adversarial position between wired and
wireless networks and the infrastructure technology associated with them, as if one technology
was capable of replacing the other. This might make good headlines or grab some customers'
attention, but it is far from reality and the best interests of customers and service providers. The
reality is that wireless does not replace the wired network, in fact the need for wireless
deployment means that you will require more cable than before. Wireless provides mobility but it
does not meet the ever increasing bandwidth needs of all parts of the network. It is not designed
to do this, in terms of bandwidth, management, the number of users and business critical
applications. The power and benefits come when wired and wireless technology are used in
harmony, complementing one another.
7: The Shifting Values of Network Needs.

One technology in particular is enabling convergence, that is optical fiber technology. As the
network requirements in both the wired and wireless world fuel the need for high reliability, low
delay, high bandwidth and extended distances, fiber optic solutions will reach deeper and
deeper into the network, regardless of type. These solutions address all aspects of technology
from service providers to enterprises, from data centers to fiber-to-the-location (FTTx) with
innovative, flexible and customer focused solutions.
8: The Shifting Values of Network Needs.
Optical fiber provides broad applications coverage. Fiber is a media to support virtually all
applications, from enterprise LAN to service provider WAN, from data centers to head ends,
from broadband FTTx to cellular wireless networks. Products are available for a large variety of
environments. Historically, fiber technology had the image of being difficult to deploy and install
but advances in fiber components now provide easy installation. Advances in connector and
fiber coating technologies have dramatically reduced fiber termination time. Solutions are
available that are optimized for the computer room or data center ... an aerial or underground
run between buildings ... a run through high temperatures ... or a run through a rodent infested
or corrosive environment. Fiber solutions can be configured with various combinations of
multimode and/or single-mode fibers. Multimode fiber has the capability to meet both the
distance and data rate demands of most Local Area Networks (LANs) today. Generally,
multimode systems cost less than single-mode systems, since the optoelectronics that can be
used with multimode fiber are less costly than those used with single-mode fiber. In contrast to
enterprise networks, single-mode fiber is virtually the only fiber used by wireless and cable
television companies. These industries require the long distance capability and high information
carrying capacity of single-mode fiber. The advent of RFoG (Radio Frequency over Glass)
technologies means fiber optic infrastructures are becoming common place for feeds to base
station antenna, deployments of active DAS (Distributed Antenna Systems) and FTTx
deployments.
9: Network Infrastructure Solutions.
The commercial buildings of today and of the future are dynamically changing high-tech
facilities. These high-tech buildings need to provide efficient and cost-effective environments for
the information-age-based worker. This is accomplished through optimization of its structure,
systems, services and management as well as the interrelationships between systems.
Productivity is the driving force in designing and building these high-tech buildings for the highly
mobile worker. Communications is fundamental to providing voice, data, video, security and
access control services. To integrate these systems and their services, the cabling system must
provide a common infrastructure (cabling and cabling distribution method). The convergence or
integration of wired and wireless systems offers scalability, enabling addition or removal of
devices wherever and whenever required (moves, adds and changes). It facilitates analog to
digital and IP networked migration and new IT growth can be accounted for up front.
10: Intelligent Buildings.

Intelligent buildings harness technology and link building systems in order to supply more
efficiency, higher productivity and increased comfort. The global trend among innovative
buildings is toward a comprehensive infrastructure solution. Most buildings feature systems
each requiring its own control, management and monitoring. Without a common infrastructure
that can link them together, these dozens of systems can create a lifetime accumulation of
unnecessary cost. With a fiber optic backbone solution, all of a building's systems, from building
automation systems and communications systems, to video surveillance and access control, are
converged over the same, common infrastructure, providing an enhanced level of efficiency and
cross-system performance. Whether supporting the needs of a single company or thousands of
different clients, continuously-operating data centers and head ends are essential to the flow,
processing and storage of business-critical information. Today's data center must deliver a
defined set of services to users on demand, with little or no interruption.
11: Data Centers & Head Ends.
This extreme service reliability is paramount to data center installations and must be addressed
with high-performance infrastructure solutions that allow high density as well as ease of
deployment and use. In support of the use of increasingly complex applications such as grid
computing, content delivery, e-commerce and data backup, the need for scalable
infrastructures, power and cooling, and higher bandwidth continue to grow - intensifying the
demand for better connectivity solutions in the data center. Fiber Optic infrastructure solutions
are being engineered for optimal deployment of mission-critical data centers, supporting
network connections anywhere from 1Gbps to 100Gbps and beyond.
12: Education Applications.
Today's educators have a vision of where they want to take their institutions. It's a clear image
of high-tech classrooms, cutting-edge labs and unprecedented access to information. Right
now, schools, colleges and universities throughout the world are implementing powerful fiber
optic infrastructure solutions to create better learning opportunities, raise learning standards,
reduce costs and improve security. Maximizing the performance of their networks, not just
individual PCs, these institutions are investing in their network infrastructures from top to
bottom, deploying ever-faster, higher capacity wired and wireless connections for simultaneous
voice, video and data.
13: Healthcare Applications.

For healthcare facilities, a few seconds can make the difference between life and death. And in
today's advanced environments, communications networks can become just as critical of a
component as the skills of the most talented surgeon. Healthcare facilities are unusually
demanding environments for technology. The needs of operating rooms are completely different
than those of visitor lounges and research areas, administrative offices and intensive care units.
Exacting applications like medical imaging, high-resolution video, video conferencing and SAN
services require the performance only truly offered by fiber optic technology. And users, whether
patients or families, staff or administrators understandably demand responsiveness, reliability
and flexibility from the services they need and enjoy.
14: Industrial Applications.
When it comes to meeting today's increasing demand for bandwidth, a new standard for high-
level communications in industries like liquid natural gas, offshore oil, mining and refining has
emerged. Despite operating in some of the world's harshest environments, plants, refineries and
even drilling vessels must be equipped to handle communicative workloads similar to what you
might expect at a metropolitan office building. While crews are on site, energy executives back
at corporate headquarters expect up-to-the-moment statistics, live video feeds and consistent
feedback. With so much at stake, oil and gas companies now view high-performance
communications networks as arteries that meet their mission-critical needs. Downtime, if only
for a few minutes, could bear severe consequences. Industrial applications demand complete,
end-to-end fiber optic solutions that include cables and connectivity, enclosures, intelligent
software and network design services tailored for the environment.
15: Municipal & Government Applications.
In the broadband market, the opportunity for Fiber-to-the-Home solutions is growing rapidly as
more and more households get online. As the demand grows so does the availability and
access. In addition, the changing landscape of municipal services is dramatically affecting the
design and deployment of city and county networks. The coverage of authorized networks often
focuses strictly on Wi-Fi, but the growing list of municipal applications also includes back-haul
networks that move data from a small cluster into higher capacity point-to-point and point-to-
multipoint connections and into fiber optic networks that link facilities together. In connection
with the municipal network backbone, network managers are making use of fiber optic links and
high-frequency, short-range, high-speed microwave links to securely transmit sensitive data
which are sometimes very large files. In addition these links support various sophisticated
applications for a wide range of needs - including the promotion of economic development,
improved access to city services, video surveillance, mobile communications, parking
enforcement and traffic control. Municipal governments also require system interoperability and
immediate connection with other government agencies to include state and federal governments
on secure fiber optic cables. As the municipal organization grows and various applications are
added, fiber based networks provides easy-to-use, cost-effective, high-quality performance for
all departments.
16: The FTTx Landscape.

Fiber-to-the-location networks have evolved over the years and usually involve of one of the
following architectures: PON - Passive Optical Network; GPON - Gigabit passive optical
network; EPON - Ethernet passive optical network; GEPON - Gigabit Ethernet passive optical
network; RFoG - RF over Glass. Since their inception in the late 1980s, FTTx networks have
continued to evolve, pushing fiber deeper and deeper into the distribution network, with fiber
plant all the way from the head end to the end of the customer drop. Fiber optic solutions offer
support for state-of-the-art, cutting-edge technologies such as RFoG, 10G EPON, and DPoE
combined, with a choice of physical architectures such as tapped, distributed or centralized
splits.
17: xDSL.
For a hundred years, the copper-based PSTN (Public Switched Telephony Network) has
supported voice calls. DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) enabled data over standard telephone lines
and helped usher in the Internet. First was DSL operating at 256kbps (faster than dial-up, at
least!), quickly followed by ADSL (Asymmetric DSL) with download speeds up to 8Mbps and
capable of reaching most homes directly from the central office. Speeds of 100Mbps are
achieved now with VDSL2/2+ (very high bitrate DSL) which is today's generation of xDSL
technology. As bandwidth increases, the distance decreases, and this is the key trade-off with
xDSL. VDSL slows down considerably after several hundred meters, meaning that for an
efficient service, either the subscriber must live close to the central office, or remote DSLAMs
must be placed closer to the subscriber, such as at the bottom of an apartment building or in a
street cabinet. Such architectures are called FTTB (Fiber To The Building), FTTC (Fiber To The
Curb/Cabinet), or FTTN (Fiber To The Node). Optical fiber is used to backhaul the aggregated
traffic from the remote DSLAM to the central office.
18: xDSL.
Beyond xDSL is G.fast, able to support 500Mbps at up to 100 meters over copper wires. It's a
hybrid architecture utilizing an FTTH network - but instead of being deployed all the way to the
home or premises, the fiber terminates at a distribution point (Fiber To The distribution point, or
FTTdp) that is located less than 250 meters from the subscriber. The potentially large number
and remoteness of the distribution points means that the G.fast modem or terminal situated
there relies on electrical power from the subscribers' CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) (in
other words, reverse powering). Such developments will help extend the life of copper.
19: xDSL.
The main attraction for incumbent service providers is the economics of copper wiring. There
are little or no CAPEX outlays as copper is already present in 80 percent of the brownfields in
the world today. Activating new subscribers can be quick and cost effective. A phased approach
that leverages existing copper while fiber is deployed ever closer to the subscriber makes for a
strong business case. Where copper technologies ultimately fall short is speed. How much
longer will subscribers be satisfied with 20Mbps, or even 200Mbps and remain competitive,
especially if 4G wireless networks can offer similar speed with the added convenience of
mobility? New carriers, often with different business models, are beginning to leapfrog
incumbents by building all-fiber access networks with 1Gbps+ service offerings. Thus,
incumbents must be careful to balance the short term cost advantages of copper against its
inherent long term competitive liabilities. Meanwhile, as copper gets shorter so fiber gets longer,
being deployed ever closer to the customer.
20: Cable Operators.
Cable television operators initially built their coaxial cable networks to broadcast analogue TV
signals. With the advent of cable modems and the DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface
Specification) standard in the late 1990s, cable networks carried bi-directional data traffic and
helped fuel the growth of the Internet. Optical fiber was first introduced to improve TV signal
quality and reliability. With cable modems, service area footprints became smaller and fiber
made its way closer to the subscriber (similar to the FTTN/ FTTC architectures for xDSL). The
Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) network thus emerged.
21: Cable Operators.
Download speeds of 100Mbps are typical, and range up to 300Mbps for selected markets, but
the availability of top speeds depends on factors such as the subscriber's distance from the
fiber, the physical condition of the cable plant, and the number of homes served - very similar to
xDSL. Where you live determines what you can get. Cable models adhere to the DOCSIS
standard and the latest version (DOCSIS 3.1) offers a theoretical download speed up to
10Gbps. Achieving such speeds requires a network migration to fully digital TV service in order
to reclaim the necessary cable spectrum used to carry analogue TV channels today. Higher
speeds also require node-splitting (adding nodes to lower the number of subscribers served by
each node), with the nodes and fiber being deployed closer to the subscriber. With a relatively
competitive bandwidth offering and an upgrade path forward, why are some cable operators
investing in FTTH networks? This is the case for business services, where FTTH is being
deployed to deliver Carrier Ethernet and cellular/Wi-Fi hotspot backhaul services. For residential
greenfield sites, building out future-proof fiber makes far more sense than laying coaxial cable.
Operating costs for coax are high due to maintenance of the active infrastructure (power
supplies, batteries, RF amplifiers, etc.). It has been estimated that per kilometer of outside plant,
an HFC network is over 10 times more expensive to operate than a PON network, and 5x more
expensive on a per subscriber basis. The HFC network is a cable operator's core asset, and
therefore remains the foundational technology. Optical fiber and FTTH are growing and
important supporting strategies that help deliver more bandwidth to the subscriber, used to
target specific market segments, and keep cable operators competitive.
22: Wireless.
With wireless technology, consumers love the freedom of mobility made possible. At home,
consumer electronics and appliances that are Wi-Fi-equipped can be easily connected. The
technology continues to improve with gigabit speeds now available. But of course, access from
the home to the Internet still depends on a fixed access network such as FTTH, xDSL or HFC.
Outside the home, Internet access for smartphones, tablets, and connected cars is provided by
the 4G network. Peak download speeds of 100Mbps are possible, depending on the mobile
operator's network, number of other users in the same cell, distance from the cell tower, etc.
From the cell tower back to the network, copper and microwave backhaul have been
traditionally used for 2G/3G networks. The growth of 4G networks and its high speeds have
driven fiber deployments. New fiber-based mobile systems are also being adopted at an
increasing rate. When fiber is used between the base station on the ground and the antennas
mounted at the top of the cell tower, electrical losses are lower, resulting in higher wireless
output power. This is known as Fiber to the Antenna (FTTA). Feature and performance
enhancements are possible with digital Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) and Remote Radio
Head (RRH) fiber-based systems. All the mobile traffic can be carried over dedicated fiber rings,
or over FTTH and PON networks. Operators with both FTTH and 4G/Wi-Fi hotspot networks are
in a perfect position to efficiently leverage their networks to create operational synergies.
Consumers use Wi-Fi hotspots to save money on their mobile data bill. Mobile operators also try
to offload traffic from 4G to Wi-Fi hotspots in order to relieve network congestion. During peak
hours in busy venues such as conferences and sporting events, network congestion can
seriously degrade the user experience and negatively impact customer satisfaction.
23: Wireless.
Picocells and femtocells are being deployed to offload traffic from the 4G network. These small
cells cover a smaller area, so more bandwidth can be shared among fewer users. Small cells
require a fixed access network for backhaul, hence for wireless as for xDSL and HFC, fiber is
making its way closer and closer to the consumer. Offloading traffic remains a key challenge for
mobile operators as they cope with the explosion in smartphone and tablet usage. But because
FTTH, xDSL and HFC networks offer widespread coverage and provide connectivity for Wi-Fi
hotspots and small cells, they will play an important part in a mobile operator's strategy.
24: That Completes This Lesson.
That completes Lesson 1, Market Trends and Development. Please continue on to Lesson 2 as
there is no separate assessment for this lesson. Thank You.

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1: Welcome To This Lesson.

2: New Apps Are Changing the Way We...

3: Disruptive Technology Direction.

4: IP Enabled User Devices.

5: A Changing World: Convergence.

6: Our Vision for Connectivity Solutions.

7: The Shifting Values of Network Needs.

8: The Shifting Values of Network Needs.

9: Network Infrastructure Solutions.

10: Intelligent Buildings.

11: Data Centers & Head Ends.

12: Education Applications.

13: Healthcare Applications.

14: Industrial Applications.

15: Municipal & Government Applications.

16: The FTTx Landscape.

20: Cable Operators.

21: Cable Operators.

24: That Completes This Lesson.

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