How the Growth in Data Consumption Has Impacted Transceivers in the Network

In the United States and around the world, data consumption is growing faster than ever before.

According to the Ericsson Mobility Report, one of the leading sources of analysis of the mobile world, global mobile data traffic is expected to grow to 403 exabytes per month by 2029, up from an estimated 130 exabytes monthly at the end of 2023. For context, just 10 years ago in 2014, that amount was a mere 2.5 exabytes per month.

The number of internet users also continues to rise, from 5.35 billion users in 2024 to an estimated 7.9 billion users in 2029 — a 47% increase in just five years, according to Forbes. In the United States, one factor contributing to this growth is the Biden administration’s Affordable Connectivity Program, the largest program of its kind in our nation’s history. One in six U.S. households is now reportedly taking advantage of the program’s benefits to access high-speed internet.

The variety of devices that rely on internet connectivity is rapidly expanding as well. According to Seagate, by 2025, the average connected person anywhere on the planet will interact with connected devices nearly 4,800 times per day — approximately one interaction every 18 seconds. From home security cameras to autonomous vehicles to smart traffic lights, Internet of Things devices are placing an increasingly heavy load on networks. In the coming years, as extended-reality services like AR and VR become more common, both mobile and residential data consumption will continue to escalate to unprecedented levels.

To keep up with this skyrocketing growth in data demand, internet service providers, telecoms and data centers are seeking solutions that offer information transfer over longer distances, higher temperature capabilities and faster speeds. In the world of transceivers, the window between data-rate upgrades has shortened from years to months. Many networks expect to upgrade from 400G to 800G transceivers by late 2024, but the next shift, to 1.6 TB, could take place as soon as early 2025. These violent technology shifts and data growth create various layers of concerns for network engineers that include validating new technology, maintaining quality, ensuring interoperability, speeding up implementation to maximize ROI and increasing network uptime. Network upgrades to boost speeds and bandwidth are critical to keep ahead of competitors and drive new customer acquisition.

Factors like uptime, reliability and time to market have shifted network engineers’ priorities, with a heavy focus on quality products that offer operational flexibility. It has become critical to align with vendors that have a strong track record of quality, a technical support team that can be leveraged, and strong financials to ensure that vendors will be capable of supporting warranties in the future and have parts in inventory to support urgent needs. Network engineers know that lowering the cost of network equipment is crucial for maintaining ROI for their businesses, but they also understand that quality and reliability are vital for business operations by eliminating failures and liabilities due to outages.

These are all aspects in which Integra Optics excels. Not only do Integra Optics’ transceivers deliver industry-leading dependability, but Integra Optics also makes multi-platform compatibility a top priority, keeping customers nimble as technology rapidly evolves — and doing it all at an affordable price.

Transceivers from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) come hard-coded to run on one specific platform: Cisco, Sienna, IBM or any of hundreds of others on the market. It’s common for a fiber-optic network to include multiple installations of different OEM equipment, but additional complexity can be created through the acquisition of a company that used transceivers from an entirely different set of vendors. This often forces organizations to maintain separate inventories of backup transceivers coded to each platform in current use.

Integra Optics is able to relieve this burden. In addition to being able to program a transceiver to make it compatible with any type of OEM equipment, Integra Optics can code for multiple platforms simultaneously, so it can be switched back and forth as needed. Using the Smart Coder, Integra Optics can code or recode transceivers out in the field in minutes, effectively allowing organizations to cover the same range of operations with less inventory.

With data rates forecasted to continue escalating to the end of the decade, data providers will have to make a substantial investment to manage the shifts in technology to keep up with customer demand. Integra Optics’ solution addresses the challenges of increased cost and operational complexity.

Integra Optics recently demonstrated its ability to support a Tier 1 wireless carrier’s large deployment. The carrier had planned an aggressive rollout schedule for its 5G technology, requiring the installation of 500,000 transceivers. Integra Optics put its transceivers through an extensive validation and testing process to verify their interoperability and reliability.

This rigorous attention to detail allowed Integra Optics to achieve a stunning 100% success rate, with zero failures among the 500,000 units provided — in contrast with the double-digit failure rate typical of OEM transceivers. Integra Optics also generated a significant savings of $25 million for the carrier compared with its previous solution.

To maintain network uptime, it’s critical to partner with a vendor that can provide technical support as well as competitive products that do not compromise quality and performance. For hospitals, banking, retail and other businesses with employees working from home, connectivity is essential for executing even the simplest daily tasks. Maintaining a business’s reputation and customer loyalty depends on limiting liability, making it critical to maintain a robust network that is built on uptime.

Integra Optics has built its market reputation based on technical experience and leveraging the latest transceiver solutions to support connectivity and network solutions both now and into the future.