FTTH: Europe in the optical fiber age.

Highlights :

FTTx and FTTh

According to Reichle & Of-Massari Ag, the specialistic Swiss company in systems of structured wiring, Europe is in the threshold of the age of the optical fiber. It has seen like numerous operators of network, local services and local administrations by all the continent have recently sent a big wave of investments in this field and the findings of diverse carried out studies by prestigious institutes of investigation also guarantee what the company affirms: That year 2009 marks the beginning of a new one was in the communications networks.

The copper wiring will not be soon sufficient to have guaranteed the access to these communications networks. The increasing data network of Internet, besides the new services online and multimedia, requires an increasing bandwidth and one better technology of transmission. In order to guarantee speeds of transmission superiors to the 50 Mbits/sec, the optical fiber wiring will be necessary in all the system including which FTTH or Fiber is denominated until the Home.

Advantages: quality of life, use, advantages for Europe like center of businesses

In words of Martin Reichle, CEO of R& M: “The arrival of the optical fiber until the home is not a chimera. It is the logical consequence of the increase of the applications of Internet. FTTH means quality of life. Only one optical fiber infrastructure of high quality can offer the bandwidth, the security and the quality of transmission necessary to be able to use several computers multimedia, consoles of videogames, devices of HDTV with access to Internet and other systems of networks in a single home”. Throughout this year they are had been carrying out by all Europe different Forums, seminaries and conferences whose subject is the FTTH. Everywhere the experts in the subject recognize that the copper wiring will be soon obsolete. Heavy Reading, an institute of studies of market in the EE.UU., has calculated for example that the number of European homes with FTTH will multiply by five between 2009 and 2013, happening from four present million to reaching 20 million. Also a presented/displayed pilot study in February in the Congress of the European Council on FTTH in Copenhagen, Denmark, affirms that the infrastructures of FTTH and wide extreme band can help the systems educative and sanitary, to telework, to the industry of the construction as well as to the sector services and the public administration. The German consultant WIK-Consult, on the other hand, assured in a study directed by the European Commission in 2008 that the extension of the broadband networks in Europe could get to create up to two million new uses until year 2015. The extension of the broadband and the use of applications online must be fomented of active form to obtain a sustainable growth, particularly in the rural regions. Roland Kohler, director of the Unit of Business of Public Networks of R& M, comments: “In the future, a powerful Fibra network Óptica (FO) will be the key infrastructure for each business. R& M is convinced that connections of FO in houses and offices will be the next market of masses after the boom of connection DSL. Whichever better it is the quality of the infrastructure, major will be the use of the services of entertainment, information and businesses in Internet. This tendency can be observed by everybody and confirms that the FTTH is the way to follow “. Another carried out study by Luck, a consulting company in Switzerland, maintains east point of view: the homes with connection FTTH generate the triple of traffic of data that those with connections ADSL.

Standards: the Swiss approach as an example

R& M considers that Switzerland owns a good departure point along with its neighbors Sweden, the Netherlands and Italy. The Swiss four-fiber model for connections FTTH for the end user is considered a model at international level. It was created in collaboration with a work group of FTTH started up by the Federal Office of Comunicación Switzerland (OFCOM). This model similarly promotes the cooperation and the competition. The operators of networks can save costs in aspects such as the common norm and switch boxes and the exits with the aid of a standardized wiring. The users can change easily of supplier if the multiple cables are in their site. This would guarantee a abierto access, by ex. the freedom and the competition in the network access. No other European country has a so attractive approach for the operators of networks. According to the experience of R& Ms, not even exist right now national norms for the same point in which the service happens within the homes. Other obstacles are the subjects not yet solved on the regulation at level as much of the European Commission as of the national authorities. Despite the authorities in Holland they have found a solution to regulate the competition in the access networks and that already have brought about a height in the growth of the Optical fiber networks. R& M thinks that the Scandinavian countries, the Baltic region, the European Eastern states, Austria, France and Portugal will all undergo an increase of the FTTH during next the five years. Those zones will arrive far especially in which the local suppliers and the small operators of networks act quickly and to the passage of the market, there where the local political people in charge and regional they apply a certain degree of pressure and where the local demand of the bandwidth and the access to Internet are more trustworthy if it is asked for on a large scale.

Spain

In Spain, according to a study published recently by the CMT, a 46% of the Spanish homes, which supposes a total of 13.3 million houses and the premises, they will have FTTH within 15 years. The unfolding, since it has been in the case of xDSL, will concentrate initially in the urban zones where the operators will have certain guarantee to recover their investment in the smaller possible time. The CMT calculates that these zones will be covered by an average of 4 or 5 operators. Due to its international activities, R& M is familiarized with the strategies of FTTH in the outer markets, from Europe to the Far East. Recently, R& M has acted not only like consultant but also supplier of connections and equipment of distribution in a series of great projects. According to Martin Reichle: “R& M knows as to install networks of FO of effective form in the most varied places and to a reasonable price, that is industrial estates, houses or buildings of offices.”

The last obstacle: the domestic wiring

R& M insists on an important point: “In spite of all the existing euphoria to near the FTTH, it is important to remember that the domestic wiring sometimes does not reach the requirements of necessary bandwidth”. To be accepted and to be totally beneficial, broadband range must be available for the consumers in its houses without no type of restriction, like the water, the heating and the electricity. R& M advises to solutions `end to end' to come up that the section between the distribution point and the domestic applications becomes a bottle neck. With respect to this, it is considered that Switzerland also owns an advantage against other regions. The suppliers leaders offer improvements in the domestic systems of distribution in the homes and apartments along with their services. According to R& Ms the costs can be absorbed. With an investment of only hundreds of Euros a network can be installed domestic multimedia. Andreas Klauser, manager of systems of R&M for wiring domestic servers comments: “We have defined a design for each type of situation of a building, especially for the oldest infrastructures. Electricians, planners and owners can access freely to these designs. Innovating systems of optical fiber wiring for old buildings are already available in the market. They are extreme fine and easily manageable and can be installed without risk, even there where him space is limited. For new and renewed buildings, R&M recommends the system of domestic wiring with wiring structured in agreement with the norm IN 50173-4. This makes possible the professional broadband and the service multimedia plus the data transmission of high performance in all the applications of the house. This means that the service provided to the domestic access to the FTTH can be used of flexible form in each room. According to Roland Kohler: ” Whichever better it is the quality of the infrastructure, major will be the use of the services of entertainment, information and businesses in the Internet. This tendency can be observed by everybody and confirms that the FTTH is the way to follow “. A carried out study by the Future consulting company, maintains east point of view: the homes with connection FTTH generate the triple of traffic of data that those with connections ADSL.

Modularity: the answer to the diversity in the design of networks

Each country, each city and region have conditions different and separated plans of expansion from others. The task demands experience, innovation and a technology of flexible, right wiring the strongpoints that R&offers; The Swiss company considers to itself a providing leader, able to support to all the present concepts and the systems of protocol for broadband transmissions and wide extreme band. R&M owns solutions for a complete installation of optical fiber networks and hybrid networks as well as for the successive migration from copper and the coaxial one to the optical fiber. What possible one does this is its range to modulate of the optical fiber and copper wiring. He is able to cover the passage with communication from the commutation centers and computer science through the outer nodes of network and distributors, to the building and the connection of the user, including the interconnection inside the house. Using the modular principle, the operators of networks can plan their projects of FTTH in agreement with their own strategies, local capacities of investment and conditions and to develop their flexibility of market thus to fulfill the requirements and the competitive surroundings. R&M has increased in a ten percent, with respect to year 2008, its investment in the development of new Optical fiber product solutions, and also to make agile so much the facilities as the service and to make them more insurances and trustworthy. An example is the recent launching of a new generation of connectors LC Duplex for compact optical fiber networks. For the first time, these new connectors have integrated a system of protection against the exhibition to rays laser and a locking mechanism to avoid that people nonauthorized can disconnect them. With these safety measure innovators, the new LC Duplex of R&M can more easily be used now and without risks in public zones, like buildings or residential offices.

En palabras de Martin Reichle, CEO de R&M: “La llegada de la fibra óptica hasta el hogar no es una quimera. Es la consecuencia lógica del aumento de las aplicaciones de Internet. FTTH significa calidad de vida. Sólo una infraestructura de fibra óptica de alta calidad puede ofrecer el ancho de banda, la seguridad y la calidad de transmisión necesarios para poder utilizar varios ordenadores multimedia, consolas de videojuegos, dispositivos de HDTV con acceso a Internet y otros sistemas de redes en un solo hogar”.
A lo largo de este año se han estado llevando a cabo por toda Europa distintos Foros, seminarios y conferencias cuyo tema es el FTTH. En todas partes los expertos en el tema reconocen que el cableado de cobre estará pronto obsoleto. Heavy Reading, un instituto de estudios de mercado en los EE.UU., ha calculado por ejemplo que el número de hogares europeos con FTTH se multiplicará por cinco entre 2009 y 2013, pasando desde los cuatro millones actuales hasta alcanzar los 20 millones.
También un estudio piloto presentado en febrero en el Congreso del Consejo Europeo sobre FTTH en Copenhague, Dinamarca, afirma que las infraestructuras de FTTH y de banda ultra ancha pueden ayudar a los sistemas educativo y sanitario, al tele-trabajo, a la industria de la construcción así como al sector servicios y a la administración pública. La consultora alemana WIK-Consult, por su parte, aseguró en un estudio dirigido por la Comisión Europea en 2008 que la ampliación de las redes de banda ancha en Europa podía llegar a crear hasta dos millones de nuevos empleos hasta el año 2015.
La ampliación de la banda ancha y el uso de aplicaciones online deben fomentarse de forma activa para lograr un crecimiento sostenible, particularmente en las regiones rurales. Roland Kohler, director de la Unidad de Negocio de Redes Públicas de R&M, comenta: “En el futuro, una poderosa red de Fibra Óptica (FO) será la infraestructura clave para cada negocio. R&M está convencido de que conexiones de FO en viviendas y oficinas será el próximo mercado de masas tras el boom de las conexión DSL. Cuanto mejor sea la calidad de la infraestructura, mayor será la utilización de los servicios de entretenimiento, información y negocios en Internet. Esta tendencia se puede observar por todo el mundo y confirma que la FTTH es el camino a seguir“.
Otro estudio llevado a cabo por Ventura, una empresa consultora en Suiza, sostiene este punto de vista: los hogares con conexión FTTH generan el triple de tráfico de datos que aquellos con conexiones ADSL.
Estándares: el enfoque suizo