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.
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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 47 needed. In addition to plug-and- play, Beranek says, solutions to reduce up-front engineering time will be required. For example, using microduct and pushable fber mitigates the need to pre-engineer fber drops to the exact length and/or to establish space for slack storage. In another example, the use of small, below-grade cabinets that ft in accessways between roads and sidewalks can reduce both pre- engineering and permitting time. Johnsen predicts the emergence of faster, simpler methods for deploying fber inside MDUs. Despite the advances already made in this area, he says, this is a challenge that cable companies have "thrown over fence" to the vendor community. Another opportunity to speed up deployment is in setting up home networks. Russell predicts that operators will begin to eliminate in-home wiring and use carrier-class Wi-Fi to distribute fber bandwidth throughout customer premises. Carrier-class Wi-Fi depends on the 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard, which Calix and other vendors are building into residential gateways. But deriving the greatest beneft from 802.11ac technology requires that consumer electronics manufacturers build it into client devices – which is another of Russell's predictions. Holtz agrees that, by the third quarter of 2015, "we'll see the cable companies and maybe the telephone companies get serious about the deployment of 802.11ac access points." However, he warns, wireless connections cannot replace wired broadband for video streaming in high-density environments. 8 Bonus predictions. Here are a handful of other predictions that didn't quite ft into any of the above categories but were too interesting to pass over. Ric Johnsen, Commscope: "With the increase in DOCSIS 3.1 trials, movement to a mid-frequency split of 85 MHz will drive new solutions to the market [such as new RFoG micronodes and drop amplifers] to give operators more interactive upstream capability." "Te merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable, if it goes through, will create a pause as they restructure, then accelerate the market in a new direction." David Russell, Calix: "Tere will be an acceleration of content available by subscription as a result of HBO's new online service." T.J. Stewart, MDU Netech: "Cellular providers will look to load-shift [to Wi-Fi and ultimately wired broadband] whenever possible. While cell companies tout their 4G or LTE, they seem to be trying to keep bandwidth-intensive activities of them. Tis has to do with hardware and bandwidth limitations at the tower, not the device, which most consumers are not aware of." Richard Holtz, InfniSys Electronic Architects: "More multifamily owners will go to bulk Wi-Fi as Wi-Fi calling becomes a reality." "We'll see more and more digital voice [VoLTE] as cellular operators convert from the methodologies in use today." "Tere will be more 100-percent digital cable networks – they need that bandwidth." "We'll see a lot more car connections." "Te Apple Watch will be a game changer." v Masha Zager is the editor of BroadBand C ommunities . She predicts that 2015 is going to be an interesting year. Contact her at masha@bbcmag.com. Broadband Communities Magazine Congratulates Congratulates the newest sponsors and exhibitors joining the 2015 Broadband Communities Summit. Adtran Atlantic Engineering Group BTI Systems Century Link Condo Internet DIRECTV Finley Engineering G4S GigabitNow GM Plast iPiFony Systems KLJ Engineering MasTech North America Mesh Networks OFS Power & Tel Preformed Line Products Raceway Crown Spot On Networks TVC Communications Vetro Fiber Map ZTE USA To Exhibit or Sponsor contact: Irene G. Prescott irene@bbcmag.com | 505-867-3299 877-588-1649 | www.bbcmag.com