Meeting the demand for ever-increasing bandwidth
Operators will continue to upgrade existing networks (FTTN, DSL, and other older technologies). The drive toward widespread, resilient broadband continues to fuel clandestine deployment. Micro-blown cables with a high fiber count can reduce costs and deployment time in urban areas, as duct systems can accommodate additional fibers without requiring new construction work. Fiber optic cables with sensing technology allow for monitoring the health of the infrastructure, detecting breaks, and providing data on environmental conditions, thus greatly improving maintenance and response times.
Fiber is urgently needed in underserved areas, but expansion is often not economically viable. Aerial deployment is an attractive (and often the only) option for fast and cost-effective remote deployments. Utilizing existing pole infrastructure avoids burying cables and creating new conduits. Aerial cables can be installed quickly and easily using familiar hardware and practices, keeping deployment costs low. Using pre-terminated cable reduces the need for staff training and expertise, as well as investments in on-site testing and splicing equipment. In harsh environments, reliable outdoor fiber connectivity is key.
The adoption of smaller diameter cables with 180/200 µm fibers, as well as blown fiber technologies, is increasing, enabling faster, more cost-effective, scalable, future-proof deployments. This is vital in applications where speed demands continue to grow and multiple services are delivered over a single fiber, as well as for Smart City and Smart Building infrastructure. 5G deployment works in conjunction with FTTH: a robust fiber backbone is required to support high data rates and low latency.
A closer look at local area networks
The need for faster and more reliable wireless connections will drive the adoption of Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E. Software-defined networking (SDN) will continue to gain traction, as it can efficiently manage and orchestrate network resources such as bandwidth, servers, and switches in dynamic LAN environments. The convergence of information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) is expected to accelerate, along with the adoption of Power over Ethernet (PoE), IoT devices, and edge deployments.
A unified backbone of "holistic fiber," which merges data and creates control, is becoming increasingly widespread. LAN convergence is largely driven by the need to simplify complexity, improve efficiency, and reduce costs, while simultaneously enhancing consistency, functionality, and flexibility. Centralizing IT resource management provides enormous gains in technical and business efficiency by consolidating systems, increasing resource utilization rates, saving energy, reducing costs, and fully leveraging system intelligence.
Adopting an "All-IP" approach extends the data and PoE network across a building's roof, enabling the connection of devices to building automation systems via pre-installed aerial access points. Instead of separate networks for telephony, data, video, and building automation, there is only one network to manage. This can reduce the cost and complexity of physical cabling infrastructure and network administration tasks. All building management and technology devices can communicate seamlessly via the Ethernet/Internet (Ethernet/IP) protocol, with the LAN serving as the foundation for physical communication. The internet, cloud, and smart grid can be integrated in the background. LAN-enabled IoT can help monitor and manage energy usage to reduce carbon emissions without impacting comfort or quality of life.
SPE expands the LAN
The adoption of xBASE-T1-based Single Pair Ethernet (SPE) cabling, which uses a single twisted pair for data transmission, is expected to continue growing. SPE enables the integration of field devices, sensors, and actuators into Ethernet environments without gateways or additional interfaces. SPE is well-suited for industrial environments because it supports long cable runs (up to 1000 m) and delivers both power and data over a single pair of wires. This simplifies cabling requirements and reduces installation costs. SPE can transmit up to 50 W along with data and control signals (Power over Data Line or PoDL), making it ideal for the Industrial Internet of Things. It can support converged data, voice, and video networks over a single network infrastructure. SPE can power and network environmental monitoring devices, such as air quality sensors and thermostats.
Soon, SPE will play a prominent role in industrial and building automation scenarios and in remote or centralized building management. As LAN bandwidth, power, and length performance demands increase due to 10-40 Gigabit/s requirements, PoE, and comprehensive Ethernet/IP coverage, SPE can complement existing cabling but cannot always replace RJ45 technology. Informed decisions are required.
Smart city and building deployments
FTTH networks can experience greater integration with Smart City and Smart Home infrastructure, supporting a variety of IoT devices. Greater convergence will generate significant synergy gains. Smart City infrastructure, with its countless IP-enabled devices requiring extremely low latency, is an increasingly important factor. Powerful fiber networks are needed to support 5G, IoT, and more. The planned 5G and 6G networks use higher frequency bands to achieve multi-Gbps speeds and low-latency communications. However, they have a shorter range and are less effective at penetrating obstacles. To address this, a combination of 4G and 5G small cell networks (indoors and outdoors) and macro cells is required. This unlocks a wide range of Smart City functions: autonomous traffic, eMobility, vehicle charging, surveillance, street lighting, and more
single-fiber backbone
We believe that data, mobile, video, and other networks will merge into a single, combined fiber backbone in the coming years. Benefits include reduced deployment and maintenance costs, phasing out legacy technologies, and unified underlying technology and interfaces.
Network operators and users can focus on their core business and develop applications that precisely match requirements, interact across systems and platforms, and are always up to date. This means we must move beyond thinking in terms of discrete networks and devices and instead define functions and integrate hardware and software. This requires attention to:
Interoperability,
Integration,
Standards (observing possible limitations caused by competing standards)
, Monitoring (which can be done from a single panel),
Optimization (constantly managing the functions and bandwidth requirements of different services across many types of devices)
Written by Andreas Rüsseler, CMO of R&M
