Optical Fiber Cables

The growing number of data-intensive Internet-based applications and services has fueled a significant increase in the volume of data traffic. This traffic growth has increased the demands on communication networks originally developed to primarily transport voice traffic. To meet this demand, many communications service providers have and are designing and installing new networks based on fiber optic technology, which provides greater data-carrying capacity, or bandwidth, and increased transmission speeds compared to existing communications networks. Until recently, much of the fiber deployed had been dedicated to long-haul networks. However, the demands for high-speed network access and bandwidth are shifting the focus towards more complex metropolitan networks and last mile access networks, which require an increasing number of connections and components.

Long-Haul Networks

Long-haul networks connect the communications networks of cities around the world and transport large amounts of data and voice traffic. To solve congestion problems, service providers have invested significant resources in the deployment of optical infrastructure. Asa result, current long-haul networks provide high bandwidth for transmitting data over very long distances. The build-out of long-haul networks represents an important step in improving network infrastructure to support increased demand for new services and greater traffic volumes.

Metropolitan Networks

Metropolitan networks connect long-haul networks to last mile access networks within urban areas. Due to the increase in data traffic and the demand for enhanced services, the existing metropolitan network infrastructure has become a bottleneck for the provision of communications services to business and residential end users. As a result, service providers are making investments in infrastructure to reduce capacity constraints in metropolitan networks.

Last Mile Access Networks

Last mile access networks connect business and residential end users to their service provider in order to provide increased bandwidth to the end user. Traditional access networks use the existing copper wire-based infrastructure, which is slow compared to the high-speed networks commonly used within businesses. Service providers are beginning to deploy fiber technologies in the last mile access network to provide high bandwidth connectivity to the end user.

Enterprise Networks

Local area networks serving the business community have utilized fiber optic links for over a decade. Historically these links have connected vertical backbone requirements between various floors of copper-based networks within office buildings. As the bandwidth of local networks has increased, optical fiber has become a pervasive medium for horizontal network links especially in the storage network environment and datacenters. Service providers are seeking to maximize the performance and capacity of both new and existing optical networks through advances in optical technology.