BROADBAND COMMUNITIES is the leading source of information on digital and broadband technologies for buildings and communities. Our editorial aims to accelerate the deployment of Fiber-To-The-Home and Fiber-To-The-Premises.
Issue link: https://bbcmag.epubxp.com/i/145944
Celebrating organizations for their contributions to "Building a Fiber-Connected World" A BBC Staf Report F or the second year, BroadBand Communities presents the FTTH Top 100 list, which celebrates organizations for their contributions to "Building a FiberConnected World." What does building a fber-connected world require? Obviously, the frst ingredient of a fberconnected world is optical fber, and the second is connections – not only connectors but also enclosures, fber terminals, distribution hubs, ducts and hundreds of other devices used to protect and connect fbers. Categories nearly as obvious are the electronic devices that are used to send and receive signals over fber – optical line terminals, optical network terminals, switches, residential gateways and so forth – and the devices used to test fber. Ten there is software to set up and manage fber optic networks and to provision and bill fber services. For the "building" part of building a fberconnected world, there are frms that design, "As enterprises and government agencies seek innovative ways to lower IT costs, they're choosing optical LANs to deliver voice, data and video to workplaces." – Dan Kelly, President and CEO, Tellabs 24 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com engineer, construct and install fber optic networks, and there is equipment for digging trenches (and, increasingly, microtrenches) to lay the fber in. And of course, network owners – private and public – are responsible for deciding what and where to build, for investing in networks, operating them and delivering services to customers. Tis year's FTTH Top 100 list includes companies that supply all these types of products and services. Most of them have appeared on earlier Top 100 lists – the world doesn't change all that fast – but there is a healthy sprinkling of new arrivals, too. Tat leaves the "world." In BroadBand Communities' motto, the world is on the receiving end of all the building and connecting – which is how the industry has traditionally been organized. An interesting development of the last several years is the emergence of a more active broadband world. Making decisions about connecting the world with fber is no longer the prerogative of traditional telecom providers or even of the newcomers – CLECs and municipal utilities. As the comedian Jimmy Durante used to say, "Everybody wants to get into the act!" Customers are making themselves heard as never before, and the lines between customers and operators are blurring. Instead of waiting quietly or moving to better-connected locales, technology companies constrained by lack of connectivity now decide to build their own | July 2013