A Look Ahead: What to Expect in 2021

With 2020 in the rear-view mirror, network needs are beginning to look a little different as we kick off 2021. With a growing percentage of the population working and learning from home, higher bandwidth is increasingly critical, while simultaneously pushing reach to the edge of networks.

So, what does this mean for our industry?

QSFP+ DWDM and CWDM optics are an optimal way to increase bandwidth. Small businesses, enterprise networks, and service providers can use these optics to increase bandwidth by 4x over SFP+ form factors. If you aren’t quite ready to make the shift to QSFP+, you can also maximize the use of fiber with an SFP+ DWDM BiDi Tunable optic. What used to take two fibers can now be done with one, and adding in automatic tuning and channel selection is now a breeze!

Speaking of tunables, how does an increase of 2.5x bandwidth with 40% of the latency sound? You can easily achieve this by simply upgrading to 25G SFP+ DWDM tunables. This is a perfect solution for networks connecting facilities or MSOs to increase bandwidth with simple drop-in replacements. And the bonus…the tunability reduces required sparing overhead.

Telcos are needing to push higher bandwidth out to regional hubs for 5G deployments, especially with their growing customer database. The QSFP56 LR4 helps provide the bandwidth to grow out networks and reach the most remote parts of the country, offering MSOs the ability to interconnect multiple hubs with reduced data constraints and latency.

With the critical reliance on cyberspace communications for both industry and academia in the new normal environment, you and your customers cannot risk network downtime. Keeping your technicians prepared to quickly react in the event of an outage is a top priority. Packed with the most important tools to respond to the unexpected, Integra’s customizable Uptime Kits put troubleshooting needs in a rugged, portable case. Uptime Kits can be tailored for your specific requirements with the ability to include products from our entire catalog, including our patented Smart Coder. Pair an Uptime Kit with Integra’s 24/7 technical support and your team is ready to maintain and upgrade your network.

As data centers are being driven by the rapid expansion of cloud computing and storage, capacity requirements are doubling approximately every two years. The result is a push for higher density solutions, which is being filled by 100G/200G/400G optics. Looking forward, 800G pluggables are in development and will provide inter-building connectivity for data center networks. These higher speed, lower latency optics have the potential to accommodate the ever increasing amount of streaming and video conferencing, as well as advances in augmented reality and artificial intelligence.

Our portfolio of current and upcoming products provides you the flexibility and support for whatever the future of your network looks like. Schedule a time to talk with one of our optics experts about the future needs of your network!