Breaking Down Buzzwords: Fiber to the What?! (FTTx)
Sometimes buzzwords get thrown around so much that we’re hesitant to admit when we’re out in the cold on a trend. In this ongoing series, we’ll breakdown some terms that people have been talking about recently (and in some cases, have been talking about for awhile) and give you everything you need to know about… Read more »
New Year’s Resolution: Getting Your Network in Shape for 2020
Your business depends on your network and while some networks have been carefully planned out, others have grown “organically”. Whatever your network structure, here are some tips for improving it without breaking the bank. Let’s jump in. A Fiber Saved is a Fiber Earned If you have multiple locations with fiber interconnects, you know fiber… Read more »
What the Tech: Fiber Jumpers Part 3
We’ve covered modes, colors, jackets, and lanes. To round out this series, we are going to venture into the world of fiber connectors and end face shapes. The two most prolific connector types that have gained a significant market hold are the SC connector and LC connector. These connectors are self-orienting (more on that in… Read more »
Coherent Thoughts on Coherent Optics
If you work anywhere in or near the field of optical networking, chances are you’ve heard of coherent optics. We know what a coherent does — transfer data really fast and really far — but what does “coherent” really mean here? Let’s start with the “really fast” part. The bandwidth that can currently be moved… Read more »
What the Tech: Fiber Jumpers Part 2
In Part 1 of our three-part Fiber Jumper series, we discussed the differences between single mode fiber and various multi-mode standards. We’re back for Part 2 of our three-part Fiber Jumper series and ready to dive into cable variations, and what they all mean. Rules of the Road: Simplex and Duplex Simplex: Simplex is quite simple;… Read more »
Get the Green Light: A Trusted Versus Trendy Solution
For more than a decade, many of the largest brands in the industry have recognized and benefited from the use of third-party optics, and third-party optics are becoming the norm versus the exception. All major OEMs have begun to accept third-party optics as part of an overall budget-friendly, reliable network solution, and some OEMs are… Read more »
What the Tech: Fiber Jumpers Part 1
If you’ve ever been involved in setting up a network, even as an observer, you’ve probably seen fiber of various colors and connectors. And similar to that dryer mysteriously eating socks, if you lay one perfectly coiled jumper on top of another and look away for a moment, it will transform into a horrible tangled… Read more »
Choosing the right solution for your 100G deployment
Navigating through any and all options available when planning to deploy a 100G optical solution can be challenging, an alphabet soup of acronyms if you will. Customers are often left asking, “why do you optical guys/gals have to make things so complicated!?”. Customer needs drive innovation, and this has led to proliferation of form factors… Read more »
Reducing Network Latency: A Necessity for Growth
Everyone can probably relate to Zootopia’s memorable depiction of the famously slow sloths behind the counter. While the sloth analogy may be funny, latency is not a laughing matter. The speed in which your data moves is an increasingly critical factor to accelerating company growth. Positive customer interactions rely on faster turnarounds and processing transactions… Read more »
You Can Tune a Transceiver, but You Can’t Tuna Fish
You can tune a transceiver, but you can’t tuna fish Any REO Speedwagon fans in the house? That one’s for you. You’re a fiber squeezing, bandwidth boosting ninja. Whether leasing fiber over an IRU or maximizing your own, you made the most of the per strand-per mile terms by leveraging WDM filters and smartly utilizing… Read more »