A new report from the Dell’Oro Group says demand for 100-Gbps Ethernet switch ports will peak next year. While demand for such ports will continue to be strong, composing more than 30% of the market over the next five years, the same timeframe will see the rise of 400-Gbps ports. Shipments of 400G switch ports will exceed 15 million, the market research firm predicts in its most recent “Ethernet Switch – Data Center Five Year Forecast Report.”
Smartoptics’ new line of optical transceivers and open line system for use in 32G Fibre Channel storage area networks complement the company’s existing line of 8G and 16G Fibre Channel products.The 32G Fibre Channel optical transceivers are available in the SFP28 form factor for use in the platforms of a variety of switch vendors. The optical modules can be used with passive filters as well as Smartoptics’ active open line systems to support reaches up to 80 km between data centers.
IoT is finally entering its rightful place as a fully fledged enterprise technology that is revolutionizing many different industries and business functions. Just Google the terms “IoT” and “revolutionizing” and you’ll pull up a myriad of examples of just how widespread this impact is. Research predicts that global spending on IoT will reach almost $750 billion this year, an uptick of 15 percent from 2018 levels. Another report predicts that by 2025 businesses and consumers will have deployed more than 41 billion IoT connected devices at a growth rate of nearly 30 percent between now and then.
As the size of our networks grew during the last decade, we saw a shift from classical 3-tier network architectures to a flatter and wider Spine-and-Leaf architecture. With its fully meshed connectivity approach, Spine-and-Leaf architecture provided us with the predictable high-speed network performance we were craving and reliability in our network switch fabric.
The August newsletter from the Fiber Optics Association is now available.
What kinds of use cases will ultimately become killer apps on the 5G network? Without question, 5G will improve existing services and support expanded capabilities for the future. With reliable always-on connectivity, low latency, and substantial increases in bandwidth, tomorrow’s 5G networks will fundamentally transform the way that businesses and consumers interact with technology. Arguably the most important feature of 5G will be seamless connectivity across multiple device types and settings. The internet of things (IoT), along with other technologies at the edge of the network, will leverage this capability to enhance traditional markets and create entirely new ones. In fact, in a 2018 Gartner survey, 66% of companies surveyed plan to deploy 5G-based IoT applications by 2020.
While the industry has justifiably regarded the development of bend-insensitive OM3 fibers as an advancement, there has been at least one unexpected consequence. We have observed unusual, high multimode OTDR attenuation rates (hereafter “rates”), in both bend-insensitive fibers and bend-insensitive cables.These high rates can result in rejection of properly installed cables due to excessive attenuation rates, misinterpretation of rate values, and improper interpretation of such rates during troubleshooting activities. These high rates can result in misinterpretation of OTDR data from data centers, as data centers have relatively short fiber lengths, in which these increased rates occur.
Four candidates are currently on the slate to be BICSI’s President-Elect: Carol Everett Oliver, Chris Scharrer, Gautier Humbert, Larry Gillen. Elections will take place throughout the month of September. The victorious candidate will begin their two-year terms and assume their duties during BICSI’s 2020 Winter Conference, which will take place February 9-13. Also at that time, BICSI’s current President-Elect, Todd Taylor, will assume the office of President for a two-year term.
Improper use or interpretation of OTDR test results can result in wasted time, materials and money. Estimates indicated contractors lose as much as $100,000 annually due to improperly reading OTDR test results. OTDRs are often used to create a “picture” of a fiber optic cable when it is first installed so later comparisons can be made to help with troubleshooting network problems. OTDRs send pulses of light into optical fibers at varying pulse widths. Then, they measure the small amounts of reflected light that are sent back from faults in the fibers. The device then determines the size and distance of the faults, and defines them as losses or changes in the cable’s light-carrying capacity.
Furukawa Electric Co. and Superior Essex Inc. are pursuing global collaboration, targeting the Chinese and North American markets.The companies established German joint venture company, “Essex Furukawa Magnet Wire Europe GmbH” (Superior Essex: 51%, Furukawa: 49%), in March 2017 with the intent to supply high-voltage winding wire and other sophisticated products such as HVWW to the European market.
