Poor broadband provision in the UK is damaging children's education in rural areas, according to a survey.
Figures from insurance company NFU Mutual, which surveyed 1,600 parents, suggest that a third of those with internet access in rural areas believe the provision is too slow.
Natural and human-caused disasters can damage or destroy data and communications networks – and several presentations at the 2014 OFC Conference and Exposition next week in San Francisco will present information on strategies that can mitigate the impacts.
Disasters such as earthquakes, tornadoes, or even terrorist attacks, can damage data centres and the communication links between them, causing massive losses in data and costly disruptions.
Researchers at IBM have set a new record for data transmission over a multimode optical fibre, a type of cable that is typically used to connect nearby computers within a single building or on a campus. The achievement demonstrated that the standard, existing technology for sending data over short distances should be able to meet the growing needs of servers, data centers and supercomputers.
Engineers have demonstrated that low power photonic devices can be fabricated using standard chip-making processes. The work was part of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Photonically Optimised Embedded Microprocessors (POEM) project.
They have achieved what the researchers say is a major milestone in photonic technology. The work will be presented at this year’s Optical Fiber Communication (OFC) Conference and Exposition, being held from 9 to 13 March in San Francisco.
Simple drop technologies for easy, fast and cost-effective fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) installations could, if more widely adopted, increase the rate of fibre deployment in Europe, according to the head of Fujikura's fibre optic division.
Fujikura says it has fine-tuned a high-performance low-friction cable for duct applications which can be pushed from the basement of the building to the individual subscriber. The low friction coating and optimised mechanical design minimises the physical resistance of this process. Field installable terminations allow minimal cable inventory.
Nexans and TeliSwitch have formed a partnership to promote a suite of automatic optical distribution frame (AODF) solutions – which, the companies say, offers the potential for FTTH operators to dramatically reduce their network reconfiguration and service times, especially for PoP (point of presence) installations in remote, hard-to-reach locations.
IDATE has released the latest issue of its World FTTx database, which is part of its ongoing service covering the ultra-fast broadband market. The organisation provides key data on this market across the globe, covering more than 70 countries and 150 key players, and providing forecasts up to 2017.
Eoin O’Reilly, head of theory, modelling and design at Ireland's Tyndall National Institute has been named as a winner of the prestigious 2014 Rank Prize for Optoelectronics.
Fibre to the home or building (FTTH/B) adoption in Europe is gathering pace, with the total number of subscribers increasing by 29 per cent in 2013 – substantially faster than the year before when growth was around 15 per cent – according to the latest update to the European FTTH market panorama, which was unveiled at the FTTH Conference 2014 at the Stockholmsmässan exhibition centre yesterday.
Following the announcement that the European economy is expected to grow by one per cent during 2014, UTEL, a leading independent research and development company for telecommunications systems, is calling on governments to invest in high-speed broadband solutions, such as fibre, to make sure the predicted recovery is realised.
NTT has launched a collaborative study with Alcatel-Lucent Japan and Fujitsu to develop server architecture for future networks.
The companies say the project aims to realise a server architecture that maximises the common part of various functionalities of communication networks with reliability, scalability and easy maintenance. They say the architecture will allow service providers to develop their services efficiently by focusing only on their logic.
Kevin Morgan, director of marketing communications for networking solutions provider Adtran, has been elected 2014 vice chairman of the Fibre to the Home (FTTH) Council Americas board of directors.
The company says Morgan’s recent appointment reaffirms Adtran's commitment to advancing the fibre technology and standards that enable service providers across America to simplify the delivery of advanced, bandwidth-rich services.
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In the Spring edition of Fibre Systems, we looked at how to recruit and retain great telecoms talent, but what about once the recruitment process is complete?
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Keely Portway reviews some of the ways optical sensing has been used in communications for complementary applications
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A look at the market for optical fibre cables and some of the products and solutions available
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Abigail Williams provides a market update on fibre network deployments in the Asia Pacific region
Keely Portway discovers how the decision-making process for network architects, designers– and anyone involved in the design and deployment of FTTH networks – could be greatly simplified when it comes to choosing PON technology
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Gemma Church evaluates why spectral efficiency is an important but often overlooked performance criterion
Image credit: FTTH Council Europe/Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center, Vienna
Keely Portway highlights some of the key developments from the first physical FTTH Conference in two years
Keely Portway reports on the popular Market Watch panel that took place at OFC 2022, focusing on the current state of the optical market
