As broadband access expands to more communities and rural areas, the use and deployment of fiber optic networks continues to grow as residents rely heavily on the availability of faster broadband speeds to stay connected and utilize the latest apps and services. As a result, network reliability and availability is more critical than ever making monitoring and support by the service provider all the more important.

This year’s OFC conference in San Diego will be another showcase of innovative new and future technologies.  With fiber optic communication and networking equipment continuing to evolve, testing procedures and setups must also grow and change as part of the process.  Engineers are then often faced with a challenge - how can they continue to add and integrate new systems and the appropriate connectivity infrastructure in a finite amount of lab space?  While some may benefit from new facility expansions, the luxury of additional square footage and rack space isn't often the case for most.

While the adoption and deployment of 100G systems and related devices in data centers has continued to grow at a solid pace the past few years, network equipment manufacturers have started taking the next step for supporting even greater bandwidth demands by developing 400G optics and transmission systems.

The term fiber optic network often conjures up images of Verizon FIOS commercials, Google Fiber, Comcast  Xfinity, or some other multi-billion dollar media and telecommunication company that promotes their reliance on fiber optic infrastructure for their business.

As we enter the last quarter of the year, businesses are starting to or continuing to plan and budget for the upcoming year.  This may mean new investments, new equipment and other upgrades in technology or infrastructure to support and position the company to be competitive and successful in the upcoming year.  

Using Fiber Network Simulation to Certify New Optical Equipment 

For banking and financial companies in the digital age, having reliable and predictable connectivity to markets along with minimal latency is critical to their success.  A financial network backbone must ensure a customer’s access to funds, particularly after hours, while delivering an additional layer of security and visibility of the most up to date financial data.  But how can a bank or financial institution have confidence that their network will perform as expected?  The solution is to accurately simulate field links and latency in a lab environment to validate system performance will be at the high level it needs to be.

It is well known that fiber optics are at the heart of data-focused industries such as telecommunications, cable, and enterprise networking.  But fiber optic technology also plays a critical role for utility providers such as electric, gas, and water. Simulating the network and testing for latency are keys to successfully deploying fiber networks in the utilities industry.

Benchmarking is the evaluation of a performance in contrast to a standard, typically based on best processes and organizations in your industry. Typically bench marking revolves around key factors which are cost, time and quality. When considering communications systems of fiber optics, bench marking refers to the quality of performance of the information that is delivered. It is also a tremendously noteworthy impact on cost as well as time.