ftth primer bbp spring 2010

8/8/2019 FTTH Primer BBP Spring 2010

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FTTH CounCil| The Advantages of Fiber |1


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FTTH and Sustainabil ity:The Environmental ChoiceFibers impact on the environmentis certainly positive, according to aPricewaterhouseCoopers study com-missioned by the FTTH Council andreleased in October 2008. Even with

low assumptions about take rates, thegreenhouse gases that are producedin constructing equipment and de-ploying the network are balanced bythe savings rom increased telecom-muting in about fve years.

Thats an annual carbon-reduc-tion dividend o close to 20 percent.Other environmental impacts are re-couped in time periods ranging romone to six years, according to the re-port.

The report examined an aver-age American FTTH deployment.The impact o any actual network

would be slightly dierent rom thetypical case that was studied.

Earlier studies have shown small-er annual savings, but almost all stud-

ies show a positive impact. Savings ongasoline (both or the avoided com-mute and or those who would enjoyless congestion on the highways) arepartially oset by extra electricity use

at home, and by the power used torun the network.

Savings are likely to increase inthe uture as the uses o broadbandnetworks expand. For example, Price-

waterhouseCoopers did not considerother energy-saving applicationssuch as:

Telepresence, which is beginningto replace a signifcant amounto business travel;

Cloud computing, which enablesdata centers to be located nearsources o alternative energy;

Smart Grid applications, whichmake electricity generation anddistribution ar more efcient; or

Distance learning, which reducestravel or educational purposes.

About three-quarters o thegreenhouse gas emissions come romthe manuacture o active networkequipment, PricewaterhouseCoopersound.

Ater the network is constructed,telecommuting saves more than tri-ple the amount o greenhouse gasesreleased by powering the network.

PricewaterhouseCoopers alsoexamined how FTTH deployment a-ected resource depletion, air acidifca-tion, algae growth in the oceans, andthe release o toxins into the environ-ment. By every measure, FTTH had abenefcial environmental impact.

Verizon is aiming or a 20 per-

cent reduction in electricity used bynew equipment to run its network.

A more complete presentationo the reports results can be oundat www.tthcouncil.org/UserFiles/F i le/PWC_FTTH _Sus t a inab i l -ity%20Report%20FINAL.pd

FTTH and the Federal Broadband StimulusIn February 2009, as part o the

American Recovery and Reinvest-ment Act stimulus program, morethan $7 billion was committed tobuilding broadband networks andteaching the public how to take ad-

vantage o them. About hal o that was committed by March 2010. Theprogram is unding dozens o newfber-to-the-home networks - in act,the majority o the last-mile projects

unded by the broadband stimulusare centered on fber to the home.However, most o the exciting news isin middle-mile builds - the fber opticlinks between local networks and therest o the world. Nearly all the ap-proved middle-mile projects are fberoptic networks.

The ederal concentration onmiddle-mile projects is particularlyexciting to municipalities, telephonecompanies and others that wish to

build FTTH frst-mile networks, eventhough the general public has no di-rect contact with middle-mile organi-

zations. This is because operators ofrst-mile FTTH networks have to payto connect to the rest o the world.

And in many cases, particularly inrural areas and smaller communities,lack o competition drives up connec-tion costs. Thus, operators o FTTHnetworks are sometimes orced to o-er connection speeds ar slower than

what their own networks can easilydeliver.

Increasing the number o mid-dle-mile connection points, and theircapacity, allows local operators tooer aster speeds. That, in turn, al-lows them to oer a greater variety oservices. Revenue rom new serviceshelps make business plans or newFTTH projects possible. For example,the ederal government is supportingsmart-grid projects to cut the costso electricity transmission and smartmedical records to cut health care

costs. Both initiatives require more re-liable, more ubiquitous broadband.The broadband stimulus program

has helped FTTH in another way aswell. Hundreds o millions o dollarsare going into local broadband adop-tion initiatives, mainly at libraries andeducational institutions, and into pro-

viding robust broadband connectionsor those institutions. These pro-grams teach more businesses and in-dividuals about what broadband cando to expand their horizons. It alsoexpands the number o people who

have access to computers and whoknow how to use them. That, in turn,will improve broadband take rates the percentage o people with accessto broadband services who actuallybuy them and thus make it easier to

justiy the costs o construction.The bottom line: Municipalities,

telephone companies, cable compa-nies, developers and business ownersthat are considering building FTTHnetworks may fnd their business cas-

es stronger than ever, even i theirprojects havent been directly und-ed by broadband stimulus grants.


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FTTH Homes Connected, March 2010(Cumulative, North America)

312,700548,000

671,000

1,011,000

1,478,597

2,142,000

2,912,500

3,760,000

4,422,000

5,275,000

5,804,800

-

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,0002,500,000

3,000,000

3,500,000

4,000,000

4,500,000

5,000,000

5,500,000

6,000,000

Sep-01 Mar-02 Sep-02 Mar-03 Sep-03 Mar-04 Sep-04 Mar-05 Sep-05 Mar-06 Sep-06 Mar-07 Sep-07 Mar-08 Sep-08 Mar-09 Sep-09 Mar-10

Source: RVA LLC

5,50

0

10,350

22,500

38,000

64,700

78,000

146,50

0

213,00

0

Percent of US Households Passed and Connected to FTTH,

2004-2010

0%2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

18%

Sep-04 Jan-06 May-07 Oct-08 Feb-10

Passed

Connected

Source: RVA LLC


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All pulses o light look the same to f-ber, and to consumers equipment. At

the user premises, the pulses are con-verted to Ethernetsignals that moveover copper Ethernet cable (typicallyCategory 5 or Category 6 wiring, Cat5 or Cat 6 or short).

Many companies make equip-ment that converts the cable compa-nys coax, or your buildings electrical

wiring, so that it can carry an Ethernetsignal. The standard or carrying Eth-ernet over coax is called MoCA (orMultimedia over Coax Alliance; see

www.mocalliance.org). The standardor using electrical wiring is calledHomePlug, and genericallyBPL (orBroadband over Power Line).

Many standards-setting bodies serve the networking industry. Foremostamong them is the Institute o Electrical and Electronics Engineers, orIEEE. This group, international in reach but based in the United States,is concerned with how signals are sent, managed, interpreted and keptsecure.

The common Wi-Fi standards (802.11b or 802.11g, or example) are is-

sued by IEEE. So are most o the standards or Ethernet. The standards donot cover everything, so vendors oten have to add their own extensionsto make everything work smoothly. Thats a necessary evil. But avoid ven-dors who ignore standards entirely and use their own proprietary methodsand sotware in place o IEEE standards.

Physical standards the ones that ensure that plugs will mate properly are mainly the realm o the TIA, which stands or the Telecommunica-tions Industry Association. This is a trade association.

Recently, new standards have emerged or home networking, too.They have names like G.hn, HomePNA, and HomePlug AV.

But what about durability, or ability to withstand high temperatures ormoisture? The technology has been moving so ast that standards-setting

bodies cant entirely keep up. Many independent groups, such as Telcor-dia (a private company) have developed their own testing standards toassure reliability. You will see them show up as reerences in contracts.

Theres nothing entirely unusual about any o this. Property is subjectto standards rom the National Electrical Code, building and fre codes,Underwriters Laboratories, and so orth. But the organizations that areresponsible or fber may be strange to you. Get acquainted with them ontheir Web sites.

Some fber optic network vendors oer end-to-end technology. Thatis, they guarantee that everything will work together, reducing risk. Theneed or end-to-end technology has diminished in recent years due tostandardization o the components. But there are oten some advantages

in terms o project management. The key point to keep in mind is that thetechnology risk is low. More important is the business sense and commit-ment to service o the people with whom you will be dealing.

Network Standards DeliveringServices toEnd Users

Aerial distrbution housing.

Microducts into which fber can be blown.

Such setups may require that the

same companys equipment be used

at both ends o the wire that is, one

box turns the signal into Ethernet

over coax and the other turns the sig-

nal back to something customers TV

sets understand. These devices tend

to oer interim solutions, but somecompanies technology is so robust

that it can be depended upon or

many years.


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ftth primer bbp spring 2010

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