Metro Connect 2016: Fiber is being transformed at the network edge
Recently, the Metro Connect 2016 Annual Conference was held in Miami, USA.
Competitive fiber optic network operators and the financial community gathered at the conference to discuss industry development.
The following are some key points from the meeting compiled by Carol Wilson, editor-in-chief of Light Reading:
The network edge is being transformed, and a lot of fiber (demand) is part of it: this is the most important topic that emerged from this conference - Small Cells and wireless "densification", the consolidation of data centers and colocation, Content providers cache distribution closer to customers, even backhauling to the tower in some cases.
Judd Carothers, one of the founders of USA Fiber, noted that the industry needs to avoid past mistakes of just running fiber straight to Cell Towers because “running tower-to-tower networks won’t solve some metro problems.< /p>
” Therefore, today’s metro network construction requires more access points and the ability to connect multiple types of facilities.
Multi-purpose builds seem to be the wave of the future.
Small Cells will be a very large potential market for optical fiber.
ZenFi Networks President and CEO Ray La Chance pointed out that the emergence of C-RAN (today mainly refers to the integrated radio access network - Consolidated Radio Access Networks, but will transform into cloud RAN - Cloud RAN in the future) is a widespread use of distributed antennas. The connection to integrated base stations opens up new requirements.
Looking ahead, companies like ZenFi Networks will build fiber connections into the streets of New York City, while TowerCloud and other traditional backhaul providers look for new density in other less populated areas.
The market is driven by the need for wireless carriers to densify their networks amid growing bandwidth demands and insufficient spectrum.
Backhaul is still a big market.
In a CEO Panel, Bob Udell, president and CEO of Consolidated Communications, and president and COO of Zayo Corporation's Strategic Business Unit used baseball to describe the market as "always in the seventh inning," or in Morley's words Say "Now back to game three".
These two companies are mainly engaged in fiber optic construction to Cell Tower.
Cable operators are coming soon.
Many speakers mentioned the rise of cable TV operators in the commercial market, and it is very likely that these operators will break away from the original regional structure and move towards the whole country.
Interestingly, most see this as a business opportunity and are ready to sell dark fiber or wavelengths to cable operators who need to interconnect their facilities.
Hunter Newby, CEO of Allied Fiber, pointed out that established telecom operators or cable TV operators usually do not open up their dark fiber or wavelengths, so for mostTo Metro Connect attendees, these carriers are not real competitors.
