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Annual report on: Fibre to the home (FttH, FttC, FttP), optical communications, ATM and IP developments, blown fibre, Ethernet, Passive Optical Networks (B-PON, E-PON, G-PON), switched digital video, MPEG, xDSL (VDSL, SDSL, ADSL), HFC, SDH/SONET, MPLS. Developments in: USA, Canada, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. Report also contains:FttH market, industry overviews and analyses in 2006 Issues and Developments Growth predictions Cost analyses Business Strategies Regional overviews Industry issues and regulatory Technology overviewFibre-to-the-Home (FttH) is undoubtedly the next development in telecommunications (and broadcasting) infrastructure. Once the 1st and 2nd generation broadband networks start to reach penetration levels of 20% or so, the pressure on national infrastructures will start to grow. Video-based communication will be the killer applications on these networks. Japan is the current world leader, with more than 5 million users connected to FttH, and deployments are rapidly rolling out in the USA and South Korea. Developments are also taking place in some countries across Europe. Access is going to be a key issue and either fragmentation of the incumbents and/or regulatory reform, will cause a structural separation to take place between basic infrastructure and retail activities. Opportunities exist for developers, cities, states/provinces, who see FttH as an important infrastructure development and are prepared to take the lead in FttH roll-outs. This report provides analysis of the current market, including business drivers, future opportunities, current business models and the costs of deployment. The report also includes analysis of various issues impacting upon FttH deployment, and information on the activities taking place in regions and countries around the world.In the technology section we discuss how air-blown fibre greatly eases the installation of fresh fibres to homes and offices. We discuss Passive Optical Networks and point-to-point Ethernet standards, especially those from IEEE 802.3ah and Metro Ethernet and its various services, including Video-on-Demand, private networks etc.The technical characteristics of Fibre-to-the-Curb and Very High Rate Digital Subscriber Line are discussed in great detail they include: installation advantages in the home compared with all fibre FttH; PON fibre architecture, Marconis TransACT installation; the standards debate between single- and multi-carrier; and the Korean and East Asian rapid adoption of FttC/VDSL.In the long distance section the report covers the optical characteristics of fibre, its dispersion and distortion mechanisms, both EDFA and Raman optical amplification, Wavelength Division Multiplexing of over 100 wavelengths and soliton transmission is discussed as well as semiconductor lasers including tunable monolithic devices high-speed modulation and detector technologies and the differences between PDH and SDH systems. |