Banks Stump Up ?3.5 billion For Open Fiber FTTH

Largest EverEMEA Structured Finance Operation For Full Fibre Access

Italy’swholesale provider Open Fiber has signed a seven-year ?3.5 billion finance dealto fund the expansion of its FTTH network. The deal, inked with a pool ofcommercial banks, the public sector investment bank Cassa Depositi e Prestitiand the European Investment Bank (EIB), is billed as the largest EMEAstructured finance operation aimed at developing a fully fibre optic accessnetwork.

Theexpansion of Open Fiber’s FTTH network (aka the Open Fiber Industrial Plan) hasbeen costed at some ?6.5 billion. It aims at bringing direct fibre access tosome 19.5 million real estate units, both in urban areas and in less populatedcentres.

?Thefinancial market has shown great interest in the Open Fiber Industrial Plan.The transaction involves the most important Italian and international creditinstitutions,” commented Open Fiber CEO Elisabetta Ripa. ?This is an importantsign of confidence in the project, in the wholesale-only model, and especiallyin the Open Fiber people who have done a fantastic job in recent months ?.

?Thepresence in the pool of lenders of several foreign financial intermediaries ofprimary importance is, implicitly, a sign of confidence in our country,significant in a phase of nervousness of the markets,” stated Franco Bassanini,President of Open Fiber. He added that the operation was also a newdemonstration of the growing attention of the markets for the validity of thebusiness model adopted by Open Fiber and other innovative European companies,which is the most suitable to create, with long-term investments, theinfrastructures required to build the new generation network for the GigabitSociety.

Thepool of commercial banks is made up of BNP Paribas, Soci?t? G?n?rale andUniCredit, as underwriter, Global Coordinator, lobal Bookrunners and Initial Mandatedlead arrangers, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and the EIB. In addition, amongItalian institutes are Banca IMI, Banco BPM, MPS Capital Services and UBI Bancaand, among international organisations, Credit Agricole, ING, Caixa Bank, MUFGBank, Natwest and Banco Santander, as lenders. Unicredit also acted as agent.

Simultaneouslywith the disbursement of the new loan, expected by October 2018, Open Fiberwill provide for the full repayment of its current debt.

https://openfiber.it/it

UK Plans Full Fibre Future

Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review Mandates Optical Broadband For All New Build Homes

Mandatory full fibre broadband for all new build homes and a new priority to connect hard-to-reach rural areas are among key measures proposed in a just released national, long-term strategy for UK telecommunications. The new approach is aimed at driving large-scale commercial investment in the fixed and wireless networks that are vital for the UK to remain globally competitive in a digital world.

The Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review (FTIR), announced as part ofthe UK Government’s modern Industrial Strategy, proposes the changes that are needed to give the majority of the population access to 5G, connect 15 million premises to full fibre broadband by 2025, and provide full fibre broadband coverage across all of the UK by 2033. The publisher of the FTIR, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), says full fibre infrastructureis vital to underpin 5G coverage.

At the heart of the FTIR is an emphasis on greater consumer choice and initiatives to promote quicker rollout and an eventual full switch over from copper to fibre.

Key recommendations from the FTIR include:

-New legislation that will guarantee full fibre connections to new build developments;

-Providing operators with a ‘right to entry’ to flats, business parks,office blocks and other tenanted properties to allow those who rent to receive fast, reliable connectivity, from the right supplier at the best price;

-Reforms to the regulatory environment for full fibre broadband that will drive investment and competition and is tailored to different local market conditions;

-Public investment in full fibre for rural areas to begin simultaneously with commercial investment in urban locations;

-An industry led switchover (from copper to full fibre) coordinated withr egulator Ofcom;

-Anew nationwide framework which will reduce the costs, time and disruption caused by street-works by standardising the approach across the country;

-Increased access to spectrum for innovative 5G services

-Infrastructure(including pipes and sewers) owned by other utilities such as power, gas and water, should be easy to access, and available for both fixed and mobile use;

-Ofcom to reform regulation, allowing unrestricted access to Openreach ducts and poles for both residential and business use, including essential mobile infrastructure;

-Alongside the FTIR, Government has also published a Digital Infrastructure Toolkit which will allow mobile networks to make far greater use of Government buildings to boost coverage across the UK.

?We want everyone in the UK to benefit from world-class connectivity no matter where they live, work or travel. This radical new blueprint for the future of telecommunications in this country will increase competition and investment in full fibre broadband, create more commercial opportunities and make it easierand cheaper to roll out infrastructure for 5G,” says DCMS Secretary of State,Jeremy Wright. ?The FTIR’s analysis indicates that, without change, full fibre broadband networks will at best only ever reach three quarters of the country,and it would take more than twenty years to do so. It also indicates that 5Goffers the potential for an expansion of the telecoms market, with opportunities for existing players and new entrants.”

Nationwide availability of full fibre is likely to require additional funding of around ?3billion to ?5 billion to support commercial investment in the approximate final10% of areas. The DCMS notes that the UK has only 4% full fibre connections and lags behind many of its key competitors Spain (71%), Portugal (89%) and France(around 28% and increasing quickly).

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-digital-culture-media-sport

APEXInsight: Over the next three years, 77% of airports and 71% of airlines areplanning major programs or R&D in biometric ID management to smooth curb-to-gatepassenger flow, according to SITA. But in order for implementation of airportbiometric solutions to keep pace with the growth of air travel, collaborationbetween stakeholders is key.

At last week?s SITA Euro Air Transport IT Summit inBudapest, straplined ?Aviation 5.0 ? Are You Ready??, the focus was on identitymanagement and passenger flow, with emphasis on the role of biometrics and itspotential to deliver a frictionless ?walkthrough? passenger experience wherebythe cumbersome checkpoints encountered in most airports today will becomeconsigned to the past.

?Secure and seamless travel is a must for the airtransport industry. It is encouraging to see that both airlines and airportsare investing in biometric technology to deliver a secure, paperless way toidentify passengers across multiple steps of the journey. We have already seengreat success where we have implemented it at airports across the world? saidBarbara Dalibard, CEO, SITA, referring to implementations of SITA Smart Path technology.

SITA Smart Path uses biometrics as the singleidentification token at every step in the passenger journey and integrates intoexisting airport infrastructure and airline systems such as check-in kiosks,bag drop units, gates for secure access, boarding and automated border control,helping airlines and airports comply with the various regulations fromgovernments and border agencies. Currently, the most common use of biometricsat airports is identity verification at self-service check-in kiosks ? alreadyin use at 41% of airports. SITA says that self-boarding gates using biometricswith ID documentation, such as a passport, will become ubiquitous over the nextthree years. Currently only 9% of airports have implemented this, according to SITA?s Air Transport IT Insights 2018 report, though aroundhalf expect to do so by 2021.

However, to realize the aspiration of a smoothbiometrically enabled passenger journey through the airport ? which isnecessary to keep pace with the growth of air travel, on track to double by2036 ? stakeholder buy-in across the ecosystem is vital.

From the airport operator?s perspective, ChristophSchneider, Masterplanner at Munich Airport, pointed out that passengers havemuch higher expectations with regards to the provision of contextualized andpersonalized services: ?No single travel stakeholder (airline, airports,hotels, agencies, corporations, etc.) has the capability to optimizeend-to-end-journey experience on their own. All stakeholders want and need thedata to provide relevant customer related service offers, but customer relateddata are fragmented in silos.? A framework is needed to share customer databetween any of the parties, ?with customers owning the data and consenting whatis shared with who, in line with data privacy laws, in a secure controlled wayand adhering to privacy concerns,? Schneider said.

Optics & Photonics News

Core Modulator Technology Shrinks to Chip Scale

Research News – Stewart Wills

Image: Harvard SEAS]

Electro-optic modulators, which convert electronic data to optical signals, are key components of long-haul telecom networks?and, for decades, lithium niobate (LN)modulators have constituted the workhorse technology. But these bulky,power-hungry devices have proved resistant to chip-scale integration. That has represented a stumbling block in the drive toward low-power, ultra-low-loss photonic circuits, not only for next-gen telecommunications but also for data-intensive conventional computing and quantum information processing.

Now, a search team led by OSA Fellows Marko Lon?ar of Harvard University and Peter Winzer of Nokia Bell Labs has devised a way to radically shrink both the size and the driving voltage of LN modulators (Nature, doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0551-y).The result is a device 100 times smaller and 20 times more efficient than existing modulators?and one that’s poised for on-chip integration. The researchers envision a vast application space for the new modulators, both in high-bandwidth data communications and in reconfigurable optical circuits for other areas, ranging from microwave signal processing to photonic neural-network computing.

Voltage problems

Over the years, LN modulators have gotten the nod owing to the excellent electro-optical properties of lithium niobate. In particular, the symmetry characteristics inLN crystals leads to a strong Pockels effect (that is, to changes in the material’s optical properties in response to an applied electric field). Those material properties, in turn, mean that tiny applied voltage changes can alter the crystals’ refractive index, on ultra fast, femto second timescales.

The problem comes when you try to scale down the fountain-pen-sized LN modulators common in existing telecom networks into something that can fit on a chip.Because of fundamental challenges in etching wave guides into lithium niobate,current-generation NB modulators must rely on wave guides with relatively large mode sizes and poor light confinement. That shortcoming, which in turn imposes limitations on other design details, forces the modulators to operate at drive voltages of 3 to 5 V?well beyond the roughly 1-V levels required to play well with typical CMOS circuitry.

As a result, LN modulators have required electrical amplifiers that have kept their size and power consumption large?and researchers have looked to other materials, including silicon, indium phosphide, polymers and plamsonic surfaces, to develop chip-scale modulators. Unfortunately, none of these alternatives has put together the compelling package of electro-optic properties sported by LN modulators.

Etching LNwaveguides

The team behind the new work decided to take another crack at fashioning a chip-scale LN modulator. To do so, they drew on previous work in Lon?ar’s lab that took a fundamentally different approach to etching in lithium niobate (Optica, doi: 10.1364/OPTICA.4.001536).

In that previous work?which also involved the two co-lead authors of the current study, Cheng Wang (now at the City University of Hong Kong) and Mian Zhang?the team used a technique that involved laying down a single-crystal, 600-nm-thick thin LN film atop a CMOS-compatible insulating layer of SiO₂ on silicon. That easier-to-etch material combination, plus tweaks to optimize standard plasma etching processes, allowed the team to dry-etch low-loss LNsub wavelength wave guides and fashion them into high-quality microring resonators.

The integrated modulator consists of lithium niobate (LN) waveguides in aMach-Zehnder interferometer configuration. As electronic data flows into the modulator, changes in the surrounding electric field are converted to changes in refractive index in the waveguides due to LN’s strong Pockels effect,allowing an electronic data signal to be converted to an optical one. [Image:Courtesy of Second Bay Studios/Harvard SEAS]

For the new study, the team applied the same technique to creating integrated modulators in a traveling-wave Mach-Zehnder interferometer configuration, withLN wave guides acting as the interferometer arms. The wave guides run through dielectric gaps that, on an applied voltage, impose a microwave electric field of opposite sign on the two interferometer arms. That field, through thePockels effect in the lithium niobate, changes the optical phase in the two interferometer arms in an opposite sense?allowing the electrical voltage signal to be changed into an optical one.

?Smaller,faster and better”

Through their improved approach to etching lithium niobate, the researchers found that they were able to create a modulator only 1 cm long and 0.5 cm wide?100 times smaller than conventional LN modulators. The modulator required a driving voltage of only 1.4 V, within the range that it could be directly driven by aCMOS circuit, without bulky amplifiers. And the devices can support data transmission rates of up to 210 Gbit/s?with rates as high as a blistering 1Tbit/s a distinct possibility with more advanced modulator designs. ?It’s like Antman,” co-lead author Wang said in a press release. ?Smaller, faster and better.”

A key advantage of the new modulator, according to Peter Winzer, is that it will speed up progress toward moving optics and electronics closer on a single chip??paving the way toward future fiber-in, fiber-out opto-electronic processing engines,” he said. The result could be a variety of fast, low-loss photonic circuits and applications.

In a particularly intriguing note, the study concludes that the device’s advantages of low optical losses, good electro-optical response, integration and scalability could combine to help create ?a new generation of active integrated opto electronic circuits that can be reconfigured on a pico second timescale using attojoules of electrical energy.” The team believes those circuits could find use in microwave photonics, quantum networks, topological photonic circuits and photonic neural networks, among other areas.

The prospects have not been lost on Harvard’s Office of Technology Development?which, with Lon?ar’s lab, has created a start-up company,HyperLight, to ?commercialize a portfolio of foundational intellectual property related to this work.”

PublishDate: 27 September 2018

BetterFlexibility and Economics with Tellabs Optical LAN Multimode Fiber Option

Tellabs, Inc

The new Tellabs^? FlexSym? Singlemode to Multimode Splittersenable cost-effective re-use of existing multimode fiber cabling for PassiveOptical LANs inside buildings and across a campus.

DALLAS, Sept. 10, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) –Tellabs, the leading provider of Passive Optical LAN (POL) solutions, isintroducing new Tellabs FlexSym singlemode fiber to multimode fiber 2×8 and2x32 splitters. The Tellabs FlexSym splitters open-up existing multimode (MM)fiber deployments to the benefits of Tellabs Optical LAN (OLAN), saving thetime and expense of replacing existing multimode fiber with singlemode (SM) fiber.

Both the Tellabs^?FlexSym? SM-MM 2×8 Splitter and Tellabs^?FlexSym? SM-MM 2×32 Splitter are built using technology from CAILabs, who areexperts in the physics of photon transmission. This, combined with Tellabs’ POLleadership position and early pioneering of POL industry advancements led tothe development of this innovative product line bringing increased efficiencyto POL deployments in existing buildings and across a campus.

The Tellabs FlexSym Singlemode to MultimodeSplitter solution offers greater flexibility for Optical LAN design and bettereconomics for OLAN upgrades.

• Enables Passive Optical LAN over existing multimode fiber
• Supports OM1, OM2, OM3 and OM4 fiber cable types
• Optional support for Type-B dual PON protection for optimal network resiliency
• Use cases where multimode fiber cabling exists inside buildings in risers, horizontal and access drop portions of the enterprise LAN

?We have both commercial and federalgovernment customers that can now move forward with Passive Optical LANretrofits because this singlemode to multimode splitter allows them to leverageexisting multimode fiber cabling inside their building, which substantiallylowers the total cost of their network upgrade,” said Jim Norrod,Tellabs President and CEO. ?The net result is they cost-effectively update theirnetwork to Tellabs OLAN, which gives them better security, has software definedLAN functions today and stands ready to support 10G speeds when and whereneeded.”

We will be showcasing the Tellabs FlexSymSinglemode to Multimode Splitter at BICSI Fall 2018 at Henry B. GonzalezConvention Center in San Antonio, Texas from September 9^ththrough 13^th. We invite you to visit ourexhibitor booth #300 to see our new products first-hand.

More detailed information about the two TellabsFlexSym SM-MM Splitters can be accessed at the following links

• Tellabs FlexSym SM-MM 2×8 Splitter
• Tellabs FlexSym SM-MM 2×32 Splitter

About Tellabs
Tellabs is leading network innovations with access technologies built to exceedtoday’s demands while delivering modern high-performance solutions for thefuture. Fast and secure access has never been in more demand for enterprise andgovernment connectivity. Tellabs’ sole focus is to deliver simple, secure,scalable, stable access to optimize network performance. Tellabs has deliveredcarrier-class access solutions to service providers for more than two decades.We are now expanding that leadership by defining the future of enterprisenetworking that connects the campus, buildings and inspires people.
http://www.tellabs.com

About CAILabs
Created in June 2013, CAILabs is a French deep tech company developing,manufacturing and selling innovative photonic solutions for telecommunicationsand industrial laser applications. CAILabs has developed an innovativetechnology for the processing of light beams. Since 2014, the company has beenmarketing innovative products which increase fiber optic flow. In 2015 and in2017, the Japanese operator KDDI set the world record for fiber optic capacityusing CAILabs’ components. Since 2016, the AROONA solution for fiber optic LANshas obtained numerous innovation awards worldwide.
http://aroona.cailabs.com/aroona-pol/

Cable broadband ISP and TV network Virgin Media has today announced thelaunch of a new dedicated Ultra High Definition (4K UltraHD) TV channel, whichwill be exclusively available for Virgin TV Full House and VIP customers with aV6 set-top-box from Monday 17th September 2018 ?at no extra cost?.

The channel will carry a mix of popular dramas, documentaries and concerts.Some of the example TV shows being touted are ‘Start Up’ with Martin Freeman,’Masters of Sex’ starring Michael Sheen, ‘Shut Eye’ with Isabella Rosselini,’The Art of More’ with Dennis Quai and political drama ‘House of Cards'(Netflix users already get this), as well as wildlife and nature documentariesset in Zambia and Vietnam, plus music gigs from the Rolling Stones, Sting andImagine Dragons.

Virgin TV Ultra HD will begin to air on channel 999 andbroadcast at prime-time until the early hours. The channel will startbroadcasting from 8.20pm on launch night.

David Bouchier, Virgin Media‘s Chief Digital EntertainmentOfficer, said:

?With the launch of Virgin TV Ultra HDwe’re giving our customers the ultimate entertainment viewing experience withmust-see shows in incredible, crystal-clear picture quality.

From epic dramas and stunningdocumentaries to the front row feeling of a rock concert, our customers willget closer to the action than ever before ? with four times the picture qualityof HD. It really is the next best thing to being there.

We’ve shown some of this year’s biggestsporting events in Ultra HD, such as the Champions League and Wimbledon finalsand we’re now giving entertainment the Ultra HD treatment. It’s all part of ourongoing investment to give our customers the best way to watch the best TV.”

At present nearly two million Virgin TV customers already have a V6 boxin the UK, but if you’re on one of the relevant two package types thenobviously you’d also need a 4K capable TV set in order to experience the bestquality content (otherwise the channel will simply downscale what it displaysto HD for older TV sets).

Frank Kler, Associate Director of Fibre Technologies Completes Abseil at Leeds University in aid of the RSPCA.

Well done to Frank, a noble and worthwhile cause.

For those who wish to donate – please follow the link, https://lnkd.in/ekAK9D3

Prestigious Wellington College DeploysBiometrics’ In-Motion Identification in Upgrade to its Secure Access Operation

Students and health club members to enjoyaccess to wellness center without the use of cards, fobs or keypad codes

Crowthorne, Berkshire (December 2017) ? FTLSecure Solutions, a leading security solutions and network solutions provider,has announced it has installed an In Motion Identification (IMID?)solution to provide both secure access and an enhanced customer experience forstudents and members of the Wellington Health & Fitness Club.

Wellington College is one of the UK’s esteemedboarding schools, established in 1859, and built as a monument to the firstDuke of Wellington. The classically-built institution decided to make thishigh-tech upgrade to its security infrastructure, and selected FTL’s Secure Solutionto deploy the FST IMID solution for its accuracy, speed and ease-of-use formembers.

?We required a system that provided touch-freein-motion identification for smooth member access to our fitness center, whilepreventing access to those unauthorised,” explained Brian Canon, OperationsBursar for Wellington College. ?We value our tradition, but also are preparedto go cutting-edge for the sake of members’ time, health and safety, all ofwhich are preserved through FST’s advanced biometric identification system.”

?Given our strong experience working withWellington College for several years, we knew they expected an access controlsolution that would be both secure and elegant,” said Andrew Wylie of FTLSecure Solutions, FST’s strategic partner in the UK, and a leading provider of design,installation, commissioning, testing and training for access control systems.?FST’s IMID Access provides the convenience and simplicity of in-motion, visualidentification while also offering the highest level of biometric-basedreliability.”

FST’s IMID Access will manage secure accessfor the fitness center’s 3000 members, with access points deployed at the mainentrance of the facility. IMID is alsointegrated with Wellington’s Gladstone MRM Plus2 system and their TRP memberexperience management software to ensure every member receives appropriateservice and attention from staff.

About FTL

As a division of Fibre TechnologiesLtd we have the benefit of over 20 years’experience in IP based solutions and networking. It is this background thatenables us to offer significant expertise in the design and implementation ofmodern IP based security systems.

We help a broad base of clients acrossmultiple sectors in the United Kingdom with their security. As a result, ourexperience in security system maintenance and installations ranges from thesingle door of access control through to multi-site, multi-campus integratedsecurity networks.

www.ftlsecuresolutions.co.uk