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jdhliwayo1-blog · 6 years ago

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Certified fiber optic training | Optical network training in Washington DC

As demand for CONA (Certified Optical Network Associate) training grows around the world, Washington, D.C., has been added to the list of locations where the course is offered. The first CONA training event in D.C. is scheduled for October 21 through 25 at the MicroTek Training Center, Vermont Avenue, North West. The Washington, D.C., location was selected to bring the course closer to engineers and technicians in the district and the surrounding areas of Maryland and Northern Virginia – including the Dulles technology corridor. Until now, CONA open enrollment classes were only scheduled in Lowell, Massachusetts and Seattle, Washington. Durham, North Carolina, will also be hosting CONA classes in the future. In addition to the scheduled classes, CONA is available as custom training for companies at their locations. Developed by OTT, CONA is a career development course for planners, project managers, operation staff, network managers etc. Delegates are introduced to the fundamentals of fiber optics and optical networking and learn how to design, plan and implement cost effective and high capacity networks. The course covers networks that use single channel per fiber or multiple channels using dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) or course wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM). These include metro or core networks, mobile backhaul or fiber to the antenna, data center interconnects and long haul networks that require the use optical amplifiers, and other wide area networks. Delegates learn what is required for satisfactory system performance of such networks, how fiber impairments such as chromatic dispersion, polarization mode dispersion (PMD), four wave mixing and other non-linear impairments affect network performance and how they are mitigated. To be OTT certified, delegates must complete a network design assignment based on wavelength division multiplexing technology and pass an assessment exam. In consideration of the depth and quality of CONA, IEEE awards Continuing Education Units (CEUs) certificates to all delegates who complete the training. Successful candidates can opt to take the more advanced CONE training. To request a detailed course brochure, course fees and training schedules go to the CONA class request page. You can also contact FiberGuide directly by emailing [email protected]. Read the full article

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jdhliwayo1-blog · 6 years ago

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GeoQuote interface migrated to dedicated domain – geoquote.co | Summary of carrier services available in the system.

To better serve the IT and telecommunication industries, FiberGuide has migrated its GeoQuote interface to a stand-alone domain – geoquote.co. The move is in response to feedback from the users of the online carrier pricing tool. With the new interface, visitors should expect a much better user experience without the occasional timeouts. GeoQuote is a free online carrier research tool developed and patented by Telarus, a carrier services master agent. GeoQuote supports personell from any organization with their carrier services procurement. It lets users instantly generate online quotations for a number of services or make a request for proposal/quotation. It also helps users determine whether a particular carrier service is available at their location. GeoQuote is powered by a large database of network and service providers each offering a wide range of services. For each service provider, the database carries multiple pricing packages. Services that can be quoted through GeoQuote are grouped as High Speed Internet Access, Multisite Networks, Voice, Integrated Access and network services.

High speed Internet access

All forms of Internet access services throughout the United States can be found in the GeoQuote and are briefly described in the following paragraphs: Ethernet over Fiber For the highest quality and high bandwidth Internet access, Ethernet over Fiber (EoF) is one of the best services available through GeoQuote. Up to 10GbE is available in some markets and one can easily check for availability and pricing in the system. Ethernet over Copper For businesses that do not necessarily require very high bandwidth, Ethernet over Copper (EoC) is a more cost effective option. Up to 50 Mbps (or more) can be delivered using EoC. Visitors can generate real time online quotations and place orders online. Dark Fiber Institutions with high bandwidth and high security concerns may opt for a dark fiber solution. Dark fiber is installed optical fiber that is not connected to transmission equipment. The dark fiber leaser is responsible for connecting the transmission equipment or to light the fiber. Once a visitor requests dark fiber in GeoQuote, a FiberGuide associate will check availability and pricing where the connection is required and get back with a proposal. Business DSL and business cable Business DSL and business cable are wireline lnternet connectivity solutions typically used for residential subsribers. When offering these services to businesses, business Internet providers package them with such options as business email, 24/7 support, fixed IP addresses and website hosting. Visitos can search GeoQuote for instant DSL and cable business broadband pricing quotes and place orders online. T1 Internet Although they typically have modest bandwidth of 1.5Mbps (3.0Mbps bonded) T1 lines are popular for dedicated access to the Internet especially in rural and underseved communities. They also provide multiple high quality voice services. Users can easily generate instant quotes and order T1 Internet service online. Fixed wireless broadband For some businesses, wireline Internet access such as fiber, DSL, cable or copper may not be be available. In such cases wireless access is the logical option. Users can use GeoQuote to generate instant quotes of wireless broadband packages available near them. Satellite broadband For rural businesses, satellite broadband might be the only option available. GeoQuote carries satellite broadband packages from every corner of the United States. Generate instant quotations for satellite broadband anywhere and place an order online.

Multi-Site Networks

GeoQuote has a rich mix of multi-site solution packages. Multi-site networks connect two or more locations such as a headquarters and branch offices. Whether the locations are within the same city, in different states, in different countries or even across oceans, there might be a solution in GeoQuote that will meet your requirements. Multi-site solutions available include the following: Point to Point Networks Point to point networks are configured to connect two sites. Ethernet private line is the most popular point to point solution in the GeoQuote system. Submit your request for quotation in the system and a FiberGuide associate will arrange for one or more proposals for you. Multilocation Internet access Instead of signing up with multiple providers to offer Internet to each of your locations, a GeoQuote provider can connect all your sites to the Internet. This is more cost efficient and ensures that you only deal with one provider for all your Internet connectivity. Request a proposal through the online carrier pricing system. MPLS networks A number of providers in the GeoQuote system have MPLS networks that cover the US and abroad. MPLS is most effective if a company needs to connect hundreds of sites together. Submit details of your requirements in the system and an associate will contact you before putting together a couple of proposals. VPN (Virtual Private Network) A VPN mimics a physical private network and can be provisioned over most of our providers’ networks. Request for a proposal and an associate will contact you to discuss details of the solution required. Ethernet WAN While Ethernet is a very well-known data center or local area network connectivity solution, Ethernet is now widely used in the Wide Area Network (WAN) for multi-site connectivity. Ethernet virtual lines are one solution that fall under this category. Provide your request for proposal/quotation and an associate will get in touch with you. Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) A metropolitan area network connects devices and/or buildings within the same metropolitan area – typically within 50km. Businesses can take advantage of the large number of metropolitan network providers within the GeoQuote sytem for their MANs. Submit your request and an associate will be happy to discuss details with you. VPLS A VPLS (Virtual Private LAN Service) is a service connecting geographically displaced LAN services into one seamless LAN. Colleagues in geographically dispersed offices can work on the same network as if they were in the same office. A large number of GeoQuote providers can connect your LAN networks into a single LAN. Submit your request to receive a couple of proposals from different providers.

International VPLS

For companies with offices around the world, an International VPLS can be used to connect individual LANs into a seamless single LAN. Several GeoQuote providers can offer International VPLS in selected locations around the world. SD-WAN Use GeoQuote for all your SD-WAN procurement by submitting details of your requirements. We will closely match your technical requirements with the most suitable provider in the system.

Voice Services

GeoQuote has a large database of voice services including: Hosted VoIP Local voice – T1 Local voice – PRI POTS lines Long distance – switched Dedicated LD (Call center) Mobility Contact center SIP (Local/LD trunks) SIP/VoIP (LD buckets) Voice over MPLS

Network services

Network services include the following: Server colocation Network monitoring Data backup Managed web hosting Managed services Remote storage Security Conferencing Call center software Data center services SalesForce automation Microsoft Exchange Google Apps for Business SSL VPN CRM services Gamification If we haven't covered what you are looking or you have a general comment about GeoQuote, contact us. You may also want to check out Fiber lit buildings, wavelength services and IP transit. Read the full article

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jdhliwayo1-blog · 6 years ago

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Wavelength Services

Wavelength Services | DWDM Services

FiberGuide is a one stop source for optical wavelength services (OWS) or DWDM services. Below is a detailed discussion of wavelength services for your perusal.

What is optical wavelength service?

Optical wavelength service is a fiber optic based point to point, high bandwidth, delivery service. Using dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technology, multiple high bandwidth channels can be transmitted in a single strand of fiber. When multiple businesses share a pair of fiber strands, the cost of the service is drastically reduced relative to the cost of deploying and maintaining fiber infrastructure. In DWDM, data is encoded on multiple laser transmitters each at a unique wavelength (or frequency). Corresponding laser pulses are multiplexed together into a composite signal and transmitted in a single optical fiber. At the distal end of the fiber, the signal is separated into the constituent wavelength components by a de-multiplexer and directed to relevant wavelength sensitive receivers. Because of the wide spectrum of the optical communication transmission window, up to 96 very high bandwidth channels can be transmitted in a single strand of fiber. Most optical network providers in the GeoQuote system offer one or more of the following types of wavelength services: Metro wavelength services: These are wavelength services offered over a metropolitan network. A business wishing to connect its facilities in Brooklyn to a data center on Madison street in Manhattan, for example, will have to choose from the many metropolitan wavelength service providers in New York city. Because of the ubiquity of metropolitan fiber optic networks, this is the easiest and least expensive solution to lease for businesses in major cities.\ Domestic Wavelength services: Domestic wavelength services are provisioned to connect locations within the same county. To connect locations in San Francisco and Chicago with a wavelength service, businesses typically use a national long haul fiber optic network provider. There are relatively fewer providers who can offer domestic wavelength services and this could have a profound impact on the pricing. International wavelength services: International (or non-domestic) wavelength services connect points in different countries or continents. For locations in different continents, provisioning of International OWS will take a combination of undersea and terrestrial networks. Organizations may have only a limited number of providers that can meet their requirements. We are available to point you to providers who can connect your geographically dispersed locations.

Important features of wavelength services:

High bandwidth: Wavelength services offer almost endless bandwidth of up to 100 Gbps per wavelength. Since higher data rates, including 400 Gbps, have already been approved by International standards, we believe that higher data rates will be readily available from some of our providers in the near future. Flexibility: Wavelength services can deliver different types of technologies including OTN, Ethernet, SONET/SDH and fibre channel. High security Wavelength services offer high security. It is secure enough to be used by very high security sensitive applications in the military and financial institutions. Because each data channel is separated from other data by wavelength (or frequency), there is no overlap in the data. Moreover, wavelength services are isolated from the public Internet. Static path and dedicated bandwidth A wavelength service path is typically fixed. This is in contrast to dynamic routing of IP traffic where the path changes depending on the conditions of the network. Protected and unprotected options Wavelength services come with protected or unprotected options. With the protected option, a redundant path is provided so that in the event of a cable cut or other catastrophic failure events, the service is automatically re-routed and does not go down. But redundancy comes at a premium and some clients may opt for the less expensive unprotected option. Service level agreement (SLA) Like many other dedicated network services, OWS come with SLA which specify a number of attributes including availability, latency and jitter. Typical availability levels range from 99.5% to 99.999%. Low latency and low jitter Because wavelength services are point to point optical services without any optical to electric conversion along the path, they have low latency and low jitter.

What are the applications of Wavelength Services?

Wavelength services are suitable for applications requiring high data rate transmission, especially when the cost of deploying and maintaining infrastructure is deemed too high. The following is a sample of suitable applications. Business continuity and disaster recovery Data center interconnection Credit card processing and other financial applications High resolution (4K and 8K) video streaming Research and educational networks (RENs) Manufacturing data transfer Transfer of high resolution imaging data in health The capturing and processing of cosmic signals in astronomy (e.g Square Kilometer array)

Wavelength service delivery | Transmission Rates

Wavelength services are typically delivered from a digital or reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexer (OADM) in the network provider’s central office or point of presence. The provider will terminate a pair of single mode fiber at each of the two customer termination nodes inside an optical distribution frame (ODF). The customer provides a compatible interface to connect to the provider network over the terminated fiber pairs. A list of compatible customer physical interfaces are listed below. For clients in buildings that are already connected by the provider (on-net), the installation process is quick. However for customers not directly connected to the provider network (off-net), fiber links from the customer to the nearest provider point of presence will have to be installed. For fiber maps near you and to find out if you can access wavelength services, contact FiberGuide. Typical transmission rates are 1 Gbps, 2.5 Gbps, 10Gbps, 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps. However, not all providers will offer all the transmission rates. Many physical interfaces are compatible with all providers’ wavelength services. Below is a matrix of transmission rates and possible physical user interfaces. 1 Gbps D1 Video (270Mbps) 1 Gigabit Ethernet 1 Gigabit Fibre channel 2.5 Gbps 2 Gigabit Fibre channel 5 Gigabit/s SONET (OC-48) 5 Gigabit/s SDH (STM-16) 5 Gigabit/s OTN (OTU-1) 10 Gbps 10 Gigabit Ethernet LAN PHY 10 Gigabit Ethernet WAN PHY 10 Gigabit/s SONET (OC-192) 10 Gigabit/s SDH (STM-64) 10 Gigabit/s OTN (OTU-2) 40 Gbps 40 Gigabit Ethernet 40 Gigabit/s SONET (OC-768) 40 Gigabit/s SDH (STM-256) 40 Gigabit/s OTN (OTU-3) 100 Gbps 100 Gigabit Ethernet 100 Gigabit/s OTN (OTU-4) Contact FiberGuide if you have questions on Wavelength services or other connectivity technologies.

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jdhliwayo1-blog · 6 years ago

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Optical wavelength services (OWS)

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jdhliwayo1-blog · 6 years ago

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Symmetric Dedicated Internet Access Over Fiber From Convergia

Slow speed Internet access is one the impediments to business productivity today. The problem gets exacerbated when businesses move some of their processes to the cloud. Today, about 87% of businesses have migrated some of their mission critical processes to the cloud or to a data center collocation facility. For such processes, mass market “best effort” broadband - even if it is advertised as business cable or business DSL – can no longer cut it. Symmetric, dedicated Internet access becomes a must.

High speed, reliable, symmetric dedicated Internet access is the answer.

Many business owners use Internet speed as the single most important specification for Internet access. Many mass market broadband services offer high download speed, as high as 50 Mbps or more. However, most mass-market broadband services are designed for home use and the bandwidth may be shared. The provider reckons that not all users in a given community are online at the same time, so they over subscribe the bandwidth. The Internet speed will therefore fluctuate with the number of subscribers that are online at the same time. The service comes without any Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees. That means that there is no telling what the latency, packet loss, jitter, availability and other important metrics will turn out to be. Moreover, the services are usually asymmetric, with higher download than upload speed. While mass market broadband is acceptable for personal home use and for small businesses who need Internet access only for email, surfing the web and other less demanding applications. For most of today’s applications, businesses require symmetric dedicated Internet access. With symmetric access, upload and download speeds are equal and with dedicated service, the bandwidth is for the exclusive use of the business. Moreover, the service comes with QoS guarantees. As business owners get inundated with offers of different types of Internet access, including (DSL), hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) or cable, 4G-LTE and T1/T3 access, they must take the time to investigate the performance of these services beyond the download speed. While legacy T1 lines have persevered in the market because of their reliability, their bandwidth is too low for most today’s business applications Needless to say, optical fiber symmetrical dedicated Internet access offers the highest quality service. 1Gbps over fiber is now widely available to businesses in fiber lit buildings, and they can take advantage of the many attributes of Ethernet over Fiber. In addition to the high bandwidth, 10 Gbps in some buildings, the service is flexible. One can sign up for as little as 10Mbps and increase it by small amounts as business requirements change. With almost all office buildings in major US cities connected to or in proximity to a fiber optic network, it is counter-intuitive for any business, large or small, to still rely on mass market broadband services for mission critical applications. FiberGuide works with many providers offering dedicated and symmetric Internet access. Convergia is one such provider.

Convergia dedicated symmetric optic Internet access

Covergia offers symmetrical dedicated Internet access across a global fiber optic network powered by AT&T. The service comes with static IP addresses and fully managed customer premise equipment. Because the service is dedicated, it is protected from speed fluctuations that are prevalent in most “best effort” broadband Internet services. In such broadband services, heavy usage by other subscribers can put a stranglehold on speed and reliability. With a dedicated plan, specified bandwidth is earmarked for your business alone and you don’t expect it to drop and disrupt important work. Symmetrical service implies that download and upload speeds are equal as opposed to the asymmetric services in which upload speed is lower that download speed. With symmetric services, businesses can easily move video and other bandwidth hungry data to and from the cloud. Starting at $350/month, the Convergia dedicated fiber optic Internet access service can lower your overall operational expenditure (OPEX) by improving productivity. To check availability in your area or to request a quotation, complete the form on the GeoQuote page, and we will get back to you within 12 hours. Read the full article

#Convergia #Fiberoptics #Internetaccess

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jdhliwayo1-blog · 6 years ago

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When Microseconds Equate to Millions of Dollars – Latency And Optical Networks for High Frequency Trading (HFT)

High frequency trading (HFT) firms continue to make the news with demand for ultra-low latency (ULL) networks. The recent announcement by ZAYO Group that an HFT firm had signed up for their ULL network, including dark fiber and a wavelength solution, is just one example. In this article, the effort by the industry to mitigate latency in support of HFT and other low latency applications is examined.

About high frequency trading

HFT is a process by which very fast processor computers and sophisticated algorithms are used to transact huge amounts of stock trades in fractions of a second. The computer algorithms analyze multiple market trends and automatically execute orders based on those trends. Professor Jonathan Macey of the Yale School of Management likens HFT to a motorcyclist, who after noticing a truck/lorry driver speeds up to buy all the fuel along the highway. When the truck driver gets to a gasoline/petrol station, the motorcyclist sells him fuel at a premium knowing that the trucker does not have any other options. While the profit realized by executing a single trade is minuscule, high frequency traders make huge profits by executing a large number of trades. The key to success in this trading game, which has been criticized as parasitic, is speed. Speed that comes with computer processing power to analyze market trends and the speed of executing trades ahead of anyone else. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || ).push({}); For more on high frequency trading you can also read Michael Lewis’s book, Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt. While some traders have been able to drastically reduce latency by collocating with the stock exchange and optimizing the server processing speed, some must access more than one exchange such as Chicago and New York or London and Frankfurt. As a result, optical networks connecting financial institutions between these locations must be optimized for latency. The most important contributors to latency in an optical network are the transmission fiber, dispersion compensating fiber and the process of optical to electrical conversion or vice versa. We will look at latency and its mitigation in these components and processes.

Latency in optical fibers

Optical fiber is the most important contributor of latency in a long-distance optical communication network. The length of the optical fiber represents the distance traveled by communication signals from one point to another. While the light travels at a speed of 299,792km/s in free space, the speed is reduced to about 204,190km/s in a standard single mode (ITU-G.652 compliant) fiber. The ratio of the free space speed to speed in fiber is the group refractive index of the fiber which is 1.4682 in this case. The above speeds translate to latencies of 3.34µs/km in free space and 4.90µs/km in the standard single mode fiber. While these values are insignificant for most communication applications, they have a profound impact on latency sensitive applications such as the HFT discussed above. The optical network engineer must perform meticulous calculations and procure the lowest latency fiber available to minimize the overall latency of the network or link.\ A number of manufacturers are optimizing their manufacturing processes to reduce latency, even if it is by a tiny amount. The following table shows the performance of two of the industry’s leading fiber optic brands. While the latency values for these fibers look almost the same, the difference in latency between the two extremes translates to 21µs over 1,000km, a significant value in HFT. Even when traders are collocated with the stock exchange servers, they still put an effort to squeeze out whatever latency they can to get an urge over the competition. With HFT, researchers working on hollow core, photonic crystal fiber (PCF), have found an extra incentive for their work. When commercialized, these fibers could play a pivotal role in HFT and other low latency applications. Photonic crystal (or photonic band gap) fiber is a new type of fiber based on a special class of optical medium with periodic modulation of refractive index. The structure of a hollow core fiber is shown in the picture.

Because of the absence of glass in the core, light in a hollow core fiber travels close to the speed of light in a vacuum – significantly reducing the latency. Researchers from Infinera, Molex, Lumentum and OFS Fitel have demonstrated that hollow core fiber can reduce latency by 30%. See their publication on Researchgate - Transmission of Commercial Low Latency Interfaces over Hollow-Core Fiber.

Latency in dispersion compensating fiber

One important impairment that occurs in optical fibers in long distance optical networks is chromatic dispersion. A phenomenon caused by the wavelength dependence of refractive index, chromatic dispersion (or simply dispersion) causes the broadening of digital pulses. The transmission fiber must be compensated for dispersion before pulse broadening result in the interference of adjacent symbols and distort the signal. The compensating modules are typically inserted on transmission spans between erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) – see illustration.

Typical dispersion compensating modules consist of special type of optical fiber with negative dispersion relative to the transmission fiber. The length of the dispersion compensating fiber introduces additional latency in the network. A typical DCF module required to compensate 80km of standard (ITU-G.652) fiber at 1550nm introduces at least 60ns of latency in the network. With multiple spans on a link, the latency quickly adds up. Non-zero dispersion shifted fiber (NZDSF) such as ITU-T G.655 or ITU-T G.656 fiber is sometimes used to reduce the number of DCMs in the network. NZDSF has significantly lower dispersion in the C-band (around 1550nm) transmission window and requires fewer compensating modules and therefore it enables lower latency networks. As an alternative, dispersion compensating Bragg gratings (FBG) are used for compensation because they introduce negligible latency in the system. A FBG is a fiber based device that reflects light due to the modulation of its core refractive index. Light propagating in the grating is reflected if its wavelength matches the periodicity of the core modulation. Selective reflection of components of light at different positions along the grating is used to compensate for incoming high dispersion light. See the article, Fiber Bragg Gratings: A Versatile Approach to Dispersion. Because Bragg gratings are significantly shorter than dispersion compensating fiber, they introduce significantly less latency.

O-E or E-O conversion and latency

In certain cases, it is inevitable that transmission signals are converted from electrical to optical and vice versa. The conversion process introduces a delay which manifests itself as network latency. Transponders and muxponders are some of the network components that operate on O-E or E-O conversion. A transponder takes a short reach LAN optical signal, converts it to electrical and then back to optical while modifying it to a specific DWDM wavelength for transmission over a long distance. A muxponder, on the other hand, takes low transmission speed signals, multiplex them together into a higher speed signal with a specific DWDM wavelength. Both transponders and muxponders can introduce significant levels of latency in the network, up to 10µs. Manufacturers are making every effort to improve their manufacturing processes to reduce the latency.

Summary:

While several applications such as VoIP and gaming are requiring improvement in network latency, it is the high frequency trading application that is demanding the most stringent latency specifications. The industry is focusing on different parts of the optical communication network to reduce latency. A lot of focus to improve latency is on transmission fiber, dispersion compensating fiber and E-O and O-E conversion. For in-depth discussions on optical networking, join a fiber optic training class near you. Read the full article

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jdhliwayo1-blog · 6 years ago

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Make Ethernet Based Connectivity a Leading Item on Your Office Moving Checklist

One of the most overlooked items on small businesses’ office moving checklists is connectivity or Internet access. While almost all office spaces are expected to come with some level of connectivity, some Internet services may not meet the requirements of some business applications. Knowledge of the details of available services and providers is a must before businesses move into new office spaces. For most businesses, an office moving checklist prioritizes things like location, furniture, pricing, security and other logistical considerations. Very little consideration is given to how the business will be connected online. Even when the business owner is cognizant of the need for reliable connectivity, they often don’t find out enough information about the type of connectivity available.

Mass market broadband access is not adequate for many businesses

Most small business owners usually focus on Internet speed as the single measure for the performance of an Internet connection. While most offices come with Internet access with impressive nominal download/upload speeds, most of these services are mass market or “best effort” broadband services. Mass market broadband services, including some advertised as business cable or business DSL, will work perfectly well for applications such as email and web browsing. However, for other more demanding business applications such as video-conferencing, high speed cloud access, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), high frequency trading, and many other emerging applications, mass market broadband won’t cut it. Because mass market broadband is designed primarily for home users, it is shared. The providers reckon that users in each community cannot be online at the same time, so they over-subscribe the bandwidth sold. A 50 Mbps connection may fall to less than 15 Mbps depending on the number of people online at the same time. Moreover, mass market broadband Internet access does not come with quality of service (QoS) guarantees. As a result they may have high packet loss, latency and jitter that make them unsuitable for some mission critical applications. Many small businesses find themselves having to ditch their “high speed” mass market broadband services for T1 lines. T1 lines come with guaranteed bandwidth and quality of service. Unfortunately, T1 line speed is typically 1.5 Mbps (3 Mbps with bonding), far below today’s bandwidth requirements.

Include fiber lit buildings or buildings with Ethernet over copper on your office moving checklist

There is a finite probability that there are office buildings near you that are already connected to a fiber optic network of one or more providers. Most fiber lit buildings have Ethernet over fiber services readily available. However, only about 1 in 4 buildings are connected to fiber and you may be unable to find one that also matches other important items on your office moving checklist. There are much better odds that you will find office buildings connected by Ethernet over copper. For serious business applications, Ethernet Internet access is the in-thing and should be one of the leading items on your office moving checklist. Ethernet does not only provide high speed access to the Internet – up to 50 Mbps with copper and a whopping 10 Gbps with fiber – but it can come with guaranteed bandwidth and QoS. In addition to the extremely low cost per Mbps, you will be able to run multiple services over Ethernet. For example, in addition to Internet access, you can implement SIP trucking for your voice communications and avoid paying for separate voice lines. One of the many other attractive features of Ethernet is its flexibility. As you move into the new office, you could subscribe for as little as 10 Mbps if your requirements and budget so dictate. But as your business grows, you will be able to quickly increase bandwidth by small increments.

How to check for fiber lit buildings or offices with Ethernet access

Thanks to our online carrier research tool, GeoQuote, the task of searching for connectivity services in office buildings all over America is very easy. It will take a couple of minutes to make such a determination. Developed and patented by Telarus, GeoQuote is a convenient tool for real time generation of pricing data for connectivity, bandwidth and other services from a multitude of carriers and other service providers. Point your browser to GeoQuote and follow prompts to enter the address of the building and other contact information. If Ethernet access is available in the building, the program will return a list of services, the provider(s), pricing and other pertinent details. You can also contact FiberGuide to check for other carrier Ethernet services such as Ethernet private lines or Ethernet virtual private lines.

Summary

We are now in the 21st century where every business, whatever the size or industry, needs reliable connectivity to be successful. With carrier Ethernet services now widely available, businesses should take full advantage of them where available. Ethernet access service should be a leading item on any businesses’ office moving checklist. Read the full article

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jdhliwayo1-blog · 6 years ago

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60GHz WiGig or IEEE 802.11ad Technology | The Leading 60GHz Router Providers

Although our focus is on wireline transmission and connectivity, we can’t ignore in-building communication. Wireless local area networks will continue to dominate in-building communications and in this article, we look at the higher frequency of 60GHz and higher speed wireless technology. We will also list two of the leading vendor products based on this technology. The need for higher speed in-building networking cannot be overstated. Because of the prevalence of Internet of everything (well, almost everything), the use of Ethernet LANS alone, even for businesses, has long since been declared untenable. In our most popular article of 2016 – 5GHz Wireless Networking for Modern Homes, we looked at how 5GHz Wi-Fi was augmenting 2.4GHz. 2.4GHz speed was falling too short of the speed required inside homes and offices. Moreover, 2.4 GHz was subject to excessive interference from neighboring devices and a growing number of devices operating at the same frequency. Although it has been less than three years since we shared these insights, both 2.4GHz and 5GHz will no longer meet tomorrow’s local area wireless networking requirements. They both need an additional solution to rescue them and this is where 60GHz comes in.

60GHz WiGig or IEEE 802.11ad

The Wireless Gigabit Alliance (or WiGig), an industry consortium, initially spearheaded the development and promotion of wireless communications around the 60GHz frequency band starting as early as 2007. The motive was to develop wireless technology with enough bandwidth to replace wireline local area networks in the home and office. Moreover, they intended to wirelessly connect computing devices to computer monitors. In 2013, WiGig merged with the Wi-Fi Alliance, a more established organization. Of the unlicensed frequency bands available, 60GHz carries higher data rates of multiple Gbps. The current version of WiGig technology, which complies with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers standard IEEE 802.11ad, enables devices to transmit a maximum of 7–8 Gbps data rates. Upcoming versions of the technology are expected to transmit even higher data rates of 10 Gbps. Unfortunately, the WiGig technology impressive speeds come with a caveat. The coverage distance is severely limited to only about 10m (~33ft). This is typical of electromagnetic communication in free space, the higher the frequency bandwidth, the higher the information carrying capacity but the lower the reach. As if this was not bothersome enough, the high frequency of 60GHz cannot penetrate walls. Thus, a 60GHz wireless router cannot be accessed from multiple rooms. However, enhancements are in the works to develop the technology that can at least boost transmission range of up to 500m (and even higher speed) in a newer standard (IEEE 802.11ay) expected soon.

The leading - IEEE 802.11ad, 60GHz Routers

A few providers already have IEEE 802.11ad wireless routers on the market and they are all tri-band. In contrast to the dual band Wi-Fi routers discussed in our previous article that included 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands, the new tri-band routers also include the 60GHz band. A user typically locates the router in a room in which the highest bandwidth is required. The 60GHz is used in the room with the router while 2.4GHz and 5GHz are used in areas that do not have a direct line of site with the router. While almost all the providers advertise the speed of their routers as 7.2 Gbps, they add the speed of each frequency band to come up with this value. The actual highest speed at 60GHz is 4.6 Gbps. The data rate is common for all providers who are so far offering these routers because they all get their chipsets from Qualcom. Qualcom’s chipsets are specified as 4.6 Gbps although the maximum standard specification is 7-8 Gbps. Two of the leading IEEE 802.11ad routers on the market are TP-Link AD7200 and Netgear Nighthawk XR700. Click on the images below to see product and pricing details at Amazon. Read the full article

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jdhliwayo1-blog · 6 years ago

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Fiber Lit Buildings

Fiber Lit Buildings | Carrier Ethernet Locator Service

Contact us to find out if your office building is connected by optical fiber 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Complete the form with the address and phone number where fiber optic connectivity information is required. Are You Operating From A Fiber Lit Building? With hundreds of thousands of fiber route kilometers, fiber lit buildings and colocation data centers in the GeoQuote system, we can let you know if your building is already connected to optical fiber. We can also let you know if carrier Ethernet services are connected to the building and the data rates available to you. Moreover, we partner with most of the carriers we can get you quotations from those who best meet your technical requirements and budget. If fiber is not yet in your building, we can point you to the nearest fiber access point or Ethernet point of presence. Better yet, we can help you estimate how much it will cost to connect your office to the nearest fiber access point or Ethernet point of presence. Free Fiber Lit Building Location Assistance Our fiber lit building support is part of our free pre-sales support services, whether you will purchase a connectivity service or not. It is just part of our operation model. We offer free consulting services to help clients identify connectivity services from multiple providers. In addition to narrowing down their options and providing them with guaranteed best pricing, we will also work with them through provisioning and beyond implementation. In other words, in addition to having a direct relationship with carriers, we remain as an ongoing resource to help clients with any questions or issues they may have with their selected carrier, as well as provide them with support.

What Is A Fiber Lit Building?

Your building may not be connected to fiber at all, it may be connected to dark fiber or it may be connected to lit fiber. A lit fiber is one that is already connected to laser (hence lit) transmission systems and ready to carry your traffic. In a lit building, other tenants have already been connected to a fiber service and the provider has already dealt with all the issues that come with installing and “lighting” optical fiber. You can be rest assured that after ordering service it will be connected quickly at reasonable upfront costs. On the other hand, if there is dark fiber in the building, it will require a significant amount of time to connect the equipment required to get the services going. It will require significantly more upfront costs If there is no fiber at all, a lot of homework will be required to find where the nearest fiber access points are, what it takes to connect the building to the point of presence. You will have to do an analysis to find out if connecting the building with fiber is even economically feasible. If the nearest point of presence is 10 miles away, for example, then the upfront costs may turn out to be too exorbitant. Some clients have opted to move into a lit building than to go through the hassles of having fiber installed in the building and lit.

Carrier Ethernet Services Locator

Our fiber lit building locating services are not merely intended to let you know if your building is connected by fiber. What really matters to our clients is the services that the fiber brings to their buildings. The most important connectivity service for many businesses, large or small is carrier Ethernet. In addition to confirming fiber connectivity to your building, we will also let you know the Ethernet services available to you, the speed available and, if needed a quotation from one or more providers servicing the building. Carrier Ethernet Services are extensions of the well-known and popular low-cost Ethernet based LAN networks to Wide Area Network (WAN) applications. Ethernet now competes with and/or compliment other transport networks in transporting voice, data and video services over long distances. Like native Ethernet, the biggest advantages of Carrier Ethernet Services are low cost and scalability. If your business or service offering is just starting, you may only need low speed access such as 10Mb/s or 100Mb/s. As requirements change, it is easy to make upgrades in small increments. Data rates can be increased up to 1GbE, 10GbE or even 100GbE depending on availability. Carrier Ethernet Services are available as point to point or multipoint connections over dedicated physical or virtual connections. One other advantage of Carrier Ethernet Services is that they can be accessed over a variety of ways: fiber optics, high speed Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), Hybrid Fiber Coaxial (HFC) or cable, Wireless or T1 lines. Business like yours are using Carrier Ethernet Services for a variety of applications, including: Private Lines While T1 lines are very popular, trusted and are still very widely used, their data rates are very low by today’s standards. Unbonded T1s are only 1.5Mb/s. Carrier Ethernet Private Lines can replace T1 lines while offering higher speeds at much lower cost/bit. Dedicated Internet Access Businesses can use Ethernet Private Lines (EPLs) or Ethernet Virtual Private Lines (EVPLs)to connect one or two locations to the Internet through a Carrier Ethernet Network. A VPL connection is dedicated and not shared with others outside the organization. Multisite Business Interconnection Carrier Ethernet Services can support multiple connections over a single physical connection. This makes it cost efficient to connect your multiple branch offices to your headquarters. The connection between your headquarters and the Carrier Ethernet Provider can be achieved with one physical connection. Why Carrier Ethernet Locator Service? One challenge Carrier Ethernet still faces is that of availability. While there are many buildings connected with Carrier Ethernet Over Optical Fiber, many more are not connected and are not within a reasonable distance from a Carrier Ethernet Point of Presence (PoP), making the cost of connecting the building prohibitive.

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jdhliwayo1-blog · 6 years ago

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How to Build Your Career as an Optical Network Engineer

Trends in information and communication technology are creating great opportunities for engineers with the skills to work as optical network engineers. The growing demand for bandwidth continues to push optics into many realms of communication networks. Optical networking now dominates global communication networks, terrestrial long-distance networks and metropolitan area networks. Optics is also displacing other technologies in access networks, local area networks, data centers, mobile backhauling and even in short distance applications like server backplanes. The success of 5G mobile communications will depend to a large extend on the availability of fiber optic backhaul networks. This trend will continue unabated for as long as optics offers the most communication bandwidth of any other technology. As a result, optical network engineers are expected to remain relevant for a long time to come. This article is intended as a guide for those who want to learn more about beginning or expanding their careers in optical networking.

What is an optical network engineer?

An optical network engineer is a highly skilled technology professional responsible for the planning, designing, implementation or maintenance of an optical network. Optical network engineers ensure that networks operate properly in terms of the services that run over them – including video, data and voice. There is a variety of optical network engineers with the skills to work in different types of networks, including: Global submarine networks Terrestrial long-distance networks Access networks Data center networks Optical backplanes Consequently, optical network engineers can be referred to by different titles depending on the type of network they specialize in. Titles can also be influenced by specific roles, employer or the region of the world they work. The following is a sample of different titles used to describe optical network engineers: Optical network architect Network engineer – Optical networking Submarine network engineer Long haul fiber engineer Metro fiber engineer OSP engineer - FTTX Optical communications engineer Optical transport engineer Optical transport engineer, operations Optical/Transport resident engineer Optical network planner Optical operation engineer Optical DWDM engineer Optical network deployment engineer Optical network consultant Optical test engineer Roles of optical network engineers There is a wide range of roles for optical network engineers depending on the type of network they are involved with. The following is a listing of some of the major roles of optical network engineers. Route planning and network designing Optical network equipment procurement Preparation of fiber optic and network equipment specifications and cost estimates Deploying and configuring optical network equipment Testing and supporting optical networks in various stages of development Optical network monitoring and restoration Optical network acquisition How much do optical network engineers make? It will be disingenuous to drop a number for the average salary of optical network engineers. Salary is a function of too many variables, including specific role, the employer, the location of the company, market demand for the position and other factors. However, there is an interesting saying that “in America you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate”. The onus is always on the job applicant to do thorough research on the typical salaries offered by the company of interest to employees with comparable education, skills and experience in order to get the company to offer a fair salary. Glassdoor is one of the most useful research tools for job seekers to check salaries offered for different job roles by different companies. Unfortunately, most optical network engineer salary data at Glassdoor is for the United States and a few other regions. However, even if you don’t work in the USA, looking at the data and comparing it with other occupations can give you a feel of how well the profession is regarded. The following is a sample of US salary ranges for selected companies and job roles:

So how do you build a career as an Optical Network Engineer?

To get a job and to grow into a career as an optical network engineer requires a combination of education, relevant training courses, knowledge of specific vendor systems, experience and other career activities. The following steps are typical for a successful career in optical networking: Get a bachelor’s degree. Most employers expect candidates for the position of optical network engineer to have completed a bachelor’s degree. While the degree itself may not prepare you for the specific position you will end up with, it demonstrates a commitment to a career in a technology field. It also demonstrates your capacity to learn new skills on the job. Employers are not only looking for your current subject matter knowledge, but your capacity to learn new skills on the job. Most engineers find out that they learn more of the subject matter of their position during their first few months on the job than during their entire four years in college. Typical areas of study are optical engineering, electrical engineering, information technology, physics and other STEM subjects. Employers may also choose to substitute education for years of experience as a technician in the IT, telecommunication or closely related industry. Take vendor neutral training courses in fiber optics and/or optical networking Whether you are still looking for a job or you just landed one as an optical network engineer, you must take vendor neutral courses related to your job function. A vendor neutral course is developed and delivered by organizations that are not affiliated with a supplier of fiber optics or optical system equipment. These offer unbiased, well rounded content that can give you the basic knowledge required of successful optical network engineers. Vendor specific courses, on the other hand, may be designed to focus only on topics where the vendor has competitive advantage. If you are still searching for a position, a certificate in optical networking will not only show your commitment to the field but will also demonstrate your depth of subject matter knowledge. This gives you a competitive advantage over candidates vying for the same position. If you are already on the job you can expect the company to arrange for you to take relevant courses for your career development. However, you own your career and the onus is on you to initiate the training you require. Do some research, find out the most appropriate training courses and recommend them to the training department in your company. In large companies, training departments have responsibility for a wide range of subject areas, including management and sales. You will be more knowledgeable about relevant available courses for optical network engineers than they are. The onus is on you to bring these to their attention and have the courses included in the company training program. Following is a semblance of valuable vendor neutral optical network training courses. Certified Optical Network Associate (CONA) Developed by Optical Training Technology (OTT) and delivered by licensed trainers around the world, CONA is an intense 5-day introductory training course in optical networking. It focuses on DWDM technologies for up to 10Gbps per channel and up to 88 channels. All other topics in optical networking such as fiber optics, passive components, optical amplifiers, transceivers, modulation formats, and transmission systems are covered. Successful candidates are CONA certified and are also awarded IEEE Continuing Education Units (CEUs) certificates. Visit the Certified Optical Network Associate page for details. Certified Optical Network Engineer (CONE) CONE is an advanced optical network course for network planners and designers. The course focuses on higher speed transmission systems at 40/100 Gbps and beyond. Complex concepts such as coherent systems, polarization multiplexing, Flexigrid and next generation colorless directionless contentionless (CDC) reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADMs) are covered. CONA certification is required for candidates to enroll in CONE. Successful candidates are CONE certified and are also awarded IEEE Continuing Education Units (CEUs) certificates. Certified Fiber Characterization Engineer (CFCE) The CFCE course is designed for test engineers who need to learn how to carry out full fiber characterization, including bi-directional OTDR testing, chromatic dispersion, Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD) and spectral attenuation measurements. Candidates learn to carry out fiber characterization on telecom networks for 100Gb/s and extended wavelength operation, and deal with the impact of testing on technologies such as ROADMS and Raman amplifiers. Successful candidates are CFCE certified and are also awarded IEEE Continuing Education Units (CEUs) certificates. Visit the Certified Fiber Characterization Engineer page for details. Take other employer sponsored courses Most employers will offer a wide range of training classes to give you the skills you need to do your job. Courses may include training on vendor equipment and systems that you use. The following are examples of vendor specific courses for optical network engineers: Nokia Optical Network Design Expert Huawei Certified Network Professional CIENA Optical Communications Consultant (OC-C) Cisco Optical Technology Intermediate (OPT200) Adva Optical Network Training Employers may only offer such training to employees if they deem it absolutely necessary for their jobs. If you feel that such courses will be required for your chosen career path, you should bring it up to your management. Managers may not want to offer you skills that will only benefit their competition once you decide to leave the company. You should be prepared to persuade them on how the training will benefit your current company. Attend relevant conferences Attending conferences is one of the best activities you will undertake to build your career in optical networking. The industry is changing rapidly and conferences will keep you abreast of the ever changing technologies. You will learn about industry trends, find out about new optical fibers and transmission systems, gain some new skills, and make a lot of new professional connections. The following is a sample of must attend events for optical network engineers. Next-Generation-Optical-Networking The Optical Networking and Communication Conference & Exhibition (OFC) The European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC)

Summary

Current trends in information and communication technology will favor careers in optical networking for many years to come. To succeed as an optical network engineer, one requires at least a bachelor’s degree, vendor neutral training and other on the job courses. Participation at conferences and industry events is a great way to keep abreast of the ever-changing technologies and to network with other professionals in the field. Read the full article

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