TFT: Used a Fax Machine in a While?

In our first “Throwback Fiber Thursday,” we’re willing to bet you haven’t used a fax machine in a while. All innovations have their moment in the sun. But with 5G on the horizon, there will be other great things to take its place. First, the worlds of wireless and wireline need to converge. CommScope’s Craig Culwell shines a light on how you can hear more on future network connectivity.

Fax machine 360x203It’s Throwback Fiber Thursday – CommScope’s effort to re-post popular blogs from the last year that have to do with all things fiber. Do they still hold true? Do you see any changes? We’d love to have a conversation. Post your comments and questions below. This blog was originally posted on June 13, 2017.

Raise your hand if you’ve used a fax machine in the last week. Or dial-up Internet. Or a land line at home. I’m guessing you haven’t used any of these things in a long time. All of them had their moments in the sun, and all were innovations in their time. But with a networking world that is becoming more converged, change happens fast, and there’s so much yet to look forward to…

The ironic thing is that as the world becomes more wireless, the more fiber networks are needed. It becomes essential to merge wireless and fixed networks. But is your network ready? Can you keep up with demand? It’s unprecedented, really:

  • Mobile data traffic has grown 18-fold over the past five years, per Cisco VNI Mobile.
  • Ericsson predicts there will be 150 million 5G subscribers by 2021.
  • By the end of the year, FTTH Council APAC/Ovum say there will be 30 million new broadband subscribers in Asia-Pacific alone.

Most networks have both fixed and wireless connectivity. All applications will at some point run through both. It’s the delivery of services that needs to be increasingly more efficient to manage and implement.

CLICK TO TWEET:In this TFT from CommScope, we ask when the last time was you used a fax machine. Been a while, eh?

In the central office alone, there are a few things to consider as we move to a converged world:

  • Central offices are going to have to support more services than they do today.
  • Edge data center functionality will be deployed in central offices.
  • Fiber management equipment needs to maximize accessibility to the outside plant fiber network.
  • Equipment needs to be flexible to support evolving deployment needs.

And there are key network challenges that occur when thinking about all of this. But CommScope is here to help and look into the “crystal ball,” if you will. You can register for an archived webinar with Light Reading here, where we explore the impact of these changes. Leave us a comment here when you finish; we’d love to hear your thoughts.