Recent Research
Knowledge of Current & Emerging Standards
Helping people keep up to date on standards and their implications is one of the most valuable functions of the Fiber Optics LAN Section. Each Spring we hold a webinar with an update. We then post quarterly reports on our website.
In 2011 more than 400 people have watched the webinar so far. More than 90 people participated in the live event and were able to respond to our questions.
The majority of our audience members were engineers (30%), with Managers (20) representing the second largest group. However 80% of the audience identified their function as a Team Leader or higher.
Live attendees (the voting population) of the webinar primarily represented the Telecommunications Industry (40%), with Technology (19%) second, Professional Services (15%) third, and Manufacturing (14%) fourth.
Standards are developed to help ensure compatibility among products from different vendors and with legacy systems. While Standards are voluntary, it appears that most people (74%) do not install products or components that are not standards compliant. 18% said they did install non standardized products and 8% were not sure of their company's policy.
Does your company ever install products/components that are not standards compliant?
We asked audience members which standards they would like to learn the most about. 43% chose TIA 568-C, a series of three standards that address commercial building cabling for telecom products and services. 30% chose TIA-942, the standard that describes the requirements for the data center infrastructure. 14% chose TIA-1170, Health Care Facility Telecommunications Standard that specifies requirements for healthcare facilities such as hospitals. And 13% chose TIA 862-A, the Standard that describes the recommendations for Building Automation System Cabling for Commercial Buildings.
Which standard would you like to learn more about?
There has been discussion within the industry about making OM4 multimode fiber, which has a higher bandwidth than previous generations of multimode fiber, the minimum recommended fiber for use in data centers. The majority of attendees (46%) agreed with this point of view; 33% disagreed nd the remaining 21% had no opinion or were not aware of the debate.
Do you think OM4 fiber should be the minimum recommended fiber for data centers?
The use of Passive Optical Networks in Local Area Networks is currently under discussion by the standards committees. It is important to understand that while PONS have been approved as an application standard by IEEE 802.3ah, IEEE 802.3av and ITU-T G.984, PONS have not yet been integrated into the cabling standards such as TIA 568.
For the most part, PONS have been used primarily in FTTH or traditional point to multipoint networks such as those seen for cable TV. These PONS use simplex single-mode, as opposed to duplex single-mode. They have a central enterprise switch and usually terminal units at the desk area and then they use passive splitters instead of patch panels and racks. Because it works so well in these models there have been vendors out there looking to develop solutions for the Local Area Network markets as well.
We asked our audience how many of them have seen information on PONS. More than half (56%) are aware of the solution; 44% are not.
Have you seen info on PONs before?
Bend Insensitive Multimode Fiber is a new "flavor" of multimode fiber that is designed to withstand tighter bend radii without breaking. Our question to the webconference participants shows that the majority (64%) are either interested in BIMMF or have installed it versus the 36% who are not considering it or who are not sure.
The TIA/IEC standards bodies are currently in the process of evaluating how the existing multimode fiber standards can be updated to include the new Bend Insensitive Multimode Fibers. Currently, there are multiple designs for Bend Insensitive Multimode Fibers and those designs are being evaluated to determine how they affect the connector loss, bandwidth and system performance measurements and qualification processes.
Are you using/considering Bend Insensitive Multimode fiber?
Based on the responses of our attendees, their main concerns and questions regarding the use of multimode optical fiber in enterprise networks are, OM4 multimode fiber (39%) and Bend Insensitive Multimode Fiber (37%). PONS are a distant third at 24%.
Which if the "hot" fiber topics most interests you/your company?
Cost Model
Hierarchical Star, Centralized Cabling or Fiber-to-the-Telecom Enclosure -- which architecture is best for your installation?
Find out with the FOLS Cost Model.
This interactive cost model is a tool that helps you compare the installed first costs of several standards-compliant architectures using fiber and copper cabling. The Cost Model lets you input your own data to most accurately allow you to compare different media choices.