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R&M Presents Fiber Optic Innovations At The ECOC In Vienna
Published Sep 27, 2009
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R&M, the Swiss specialist in network system solutions, is on hand in Vienna to present the latest trends and advances for fiber optic expansion at ECOC, Europe’s largest fiber optic trade show.
Attention is centered on Fiber To The Home (FTTH), i.e. the connection of every individual user to the ultra broadband infrastructure.
The data rates are about ten times greater than the fastest rate achieved thus far. R&M gives priority to solutions that allow network operators, housing developers and city administration agencies to build up a network quickly and cost effectively.
In these efforts, the company can draw on its experience from a large number of international projects.
All experts agree: Fiber To The Home (FTTH) is the only way to cover the fast growing need for bandwidth worldwide (1).
Reichle & De-Massari (R&M) produces high end network components in Switzerland and is successful worldwide with network system solutions.
The company recognized the trend toward fiber optics years ago and has done intensive research and development in this field. The Swiss market leader is presenting the latest results of these efforts at this year’s ECOC in Vienna.
Products for fast network expansion
As experts in connection technology, the developers at R&M have focused mainly on resolving two issues: What is the fastest and easiest way to distribute infrastructure among the individual access points? What is the least complicated, safest and most profitable way for the provider to implement FTTH while still allowing a successive transition from copper to fiber optics? These are the major challenges for network operators, housing developers and city administration agencies that want to or have to invest in fiber optic networks.
R&M provides the answer as an expert consultant because each FTTH project is unique and individual.
Besides, the company is presenting a broad range of products for fiber optic networks at ECOC. For instance, the new system solution for single circuit management (SCM), which carriers can use to move their broadband projects forward quickly and efficiently.
As the name suggests, this product family helps with the management of individual fibers and thus with fine distribution in the final few meters.
Individual end customers can be added with great ease in no time at all. One outstanding trait of this innovation is the 40-millimeter bending radius.
This solution for this area of application is found in no other product on the market and allows all fibers to be guided free of tension. The additional space also simplifies handling.
The 40-millimeter bending radius is especially effective in protecting investments in the future xWDM application (wave length multiplex process) and high power applications (higher laser outputs of up to 1 Watt) in the backbone network.
Other successful R&M products in the fiber optic segment are the models in the Venus small distributor range for use as the above ground connection point for fiber optics and as a house connection point and closure for fiber optics in buildings.
The LC duplex connector features integrated laser protection, color coding, as well as plug in and plug out protection and is a global innovation.
The prototype for a hybrid connector is also being unveiled at the ECOC. It was developed particularly for use in the automotive sector (ships, locomotives, etc.) and for WiMAX connections.
The Internet ten times faster
Examples from Germany and Switzerland for providing fiber optic services for entire cities show the successful implementation of Fiber To The Home projects.
For instance, the municipal utilities in Bern (Energie Wasser Bern (ewb)) are investing over EUR 90 million to achieve 90 percent fiber optic connection coverage in the city within the next ten years.
The new fiber optic splice outlet from R&M plays one of the central roles here and is used to bring optical fibers into Bernese homes.
If desired, this outlet can also hold existing copper connections. It becomes the central connection outlet for all applications in the home: for phone and Internet, video, radio and TV, PC network, remote monitoring, building automation and much more.
The Hamburg based network operator wilhelm.tel and the housing developer SAGA GWG teamed up with R&M and succeeded in connecting over 1200 buildings to a new separate Ethernet fiber optic network utilizing a fast procedure.
Within a matter of months, 130 000 apartments were equipped with ultra broadband technology. In the course of 2009, Internet access with a guaranteed data rate of 100 Mbps downstream and 5 Mbps upstream will be made available to each housing unit.
That is ten times the rate capacity of the best performing Internet access currently available over copper.
Security thanks to Swiss precision
The international standard IEC 61753 sets application oriented quality classes (grades) for connection elements in fiber optic networks, allowing highly specific requirements to be defined for fiber optic connectors.
Thus far, R&M has been the only manufacturer to implement this system consistently. Unlike other companies, R&M took over the complete system of grades under IEC-61753.
That means planners and network managers who turn to R&M can be certain that their fiber optic network actually delivers what it promises in terms of band width. The testing laboratories of R&M do not conduct best case measurements.
The products have to achieve first class results even under worst case conditions. This approach ensures that different makes of fiber optic connectors are compatible and reflects real life operating conditions.
Strategic alignment with fiber optic
Fiber optic products were already accounting for one third of consolidated sales at Reichle & De-Massari (R&M) by the end of 2008.
This growth in fiber optic business at R&M is a reflection of the general trend in telecommunications networks. For instance, the ratio of fiber glass to copper technology has shifted from 40:60 to 60:40 in a matter of years.
The goal of R&M management is to expand its own fiber optic business at a faster pace than the overall market.
(1) According to the market research firm IDC, the amount of data available worldwide in 2008 totaled 281 Exabytes (281 billion Gigabytes).
By 2011, this data quantity will have grown by an estimated 60% a year to 1800 Exabytes (1.8 trillion Gigabytes).
The most important factor driving this trend is the spread of digital cameras and digital TV as well as social networks and monitoring services over the Internet.
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R&M Egypt
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