WHITE PAPER // TELECT superHD
DENSIFYING YOUR NETWORK IN A SMALL FOOTPRINT
By John Shuman
Sales Engineer, Telect
When Google makes a move, everybody watches.
With Google Access, an initiative to offer connections at 1,000 megabits per second, the search
giant is forcing telecommunications providers and cable companies to deliver broadband at
mind-numbing speeds.
Google projected the initiative, which launched in 2010, would have 5 million subscribers in its first
five years. It has fallen well below that target number and the lack of subscribers is making it tough for
Google to balance the operating expenditures with the capital investment in fiber layout.
In mid-August 2016, Google announced it intends to set up wireless transmitters throughout major
cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas, while looking into leasing existing fiber networks.
AT&T, one of the United States’ largest wireless providers, has fired shots in wake of the news. Joan
March, vice-president and manager of federal regulatory interests, wrote a blog post, calling out the
search giant.
She said Google is “coming up with excuses for its shortcomings and learning curves.” She accused
Google of not playing by the rules by seeking government favoritism and threatening Nashville City
Council to stop its fiber build.
© Telect, Inc. All rights reserved.
1.509.926.6000 :: www.telect.com
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TM
BIG ENOUGH IS NEVER ENOUGH
Google has an enormous problem because of the space
they’re playing in. They can create a broadband network as
big as they want and they can connect their data centers
with all the fiber they want.
But they still have to connect the customers to the data
centers together with fiber.
AT&T, on the other hand, has lived through the pain of
laying fiber-optic cable to the home. The company is well
versed in the need to plan for growth.
It has spent millions laying the fiber, lighting up and
managing it. It knows to take into account the planning
for monitoring and maintaining the network, the downtime
for repairs, the end-of-life cycle for the infrastructure, the
space required at data centers, and the employment levels
required to staff it all.
“
MEANWHILE, WITHOUT EXCUSES OR
FINGER-POINTING, AND WITHOUT
PRESENTING ULTIMATUMS TO CITIES
IN EXCHANGE FOR SERVICE, AT&T
CONTINUES TO DEPLOY FIBER AND TO
CONNECT OUR CUSTOMERS TO BROAD
SERVICES IN COMMUNITIES ACROSS THE
COUNTRY. WELCOME TO THE BROADBAND
NETWORK BUSINESS, GOOGLE FIBER.
WE’LL BE WATCHING YOUR NEXT MOVE
FROM OUR REARVIEW MIRROR.
OH, AND PARDON OUR DUST.
– JOAN FRENCH, AT&T
”
But how does AT&T and other companies like it plan for
excess growth, the kind of growth that forecasts 20.8 billion devices will be connected to wireless networks
globally by 2020.
They can’t.
By the time they get their networks close to “big enough,” it’s no longer enough.
The Internet of Things and its increased connectivity create a demand on the networks for faster downloads,
better service and fewer interruptions. As Google, AT&T, Amazon, Microsoft and everyone else are planning
their networks to handle that demand they’re laying fiber and building enormous data centers.
Those data centers are built and rebuilt every three to five years. With every tech overhaul, they focus on
getting bigger, denser and then 18 to 24 months later, they’ll do a refresh for obsolescence.
Before they know it, it’s time to rebuild again.
In the never-ending cycle of keeping up with (or ahead of!) the Jones, they have to figure out how to densify
their networks while aiming for a smaller footprint.
It’s particularly vital for the companies with legacy sites or who rent colocation space where square footage
is at a premium. They can’t make their space bigger, but they have to put more fiber in it.
These diverse networks now have a common need: high-density optical distribution frames (ODF).
© Telect, Inc. All rights reserved.
1.509.926.6000 :: www.telect.com
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SMALLER FRAMES WITH BIG PLANS
Telecom network operators have varying needs from the central office (CO) to the metro and edge
and those needs are changing to become more fiber dense and require flexibility. Data center,
hyperscale and cloud network operators are also adding to their already fiber-dense networks and
require higher density frames and housings to save space and support larger high-strand count
ribbon cables and cable management.
The costs for building new space or redoing existing spaces are high. Today’s network requirements
are expensive and, with best efforts to understand a five-year plan, the capital and operating
expenditures become even higher when providers need to add space for growth.
Their owned space is limited and additional square-footage in leased space is often bound by 10-,
15- or 20-year leases with restrictive use clauses. Space is valuable and maximizing space is vital.
These companies look to manufacturers to provide products that allow them to densify their
networks without increasing their used space. They require maximum port density per square foot to
best use the available space and to future-proof the space for port-density needs.
Network operators also need conveyance systems that support and route all of the large strandcount cables in the space, throughout the building or between the building.
CABLE PATHWAYS TABLE
IN THE SPACE
THROUGHOUT THE BUILDING
BETWEEN BUILDINGS
Cable trays
Riser closets
Aerial pathways
Conduits
Conduits
Cable trays
Landing points
Underground vaults
Conduit systems
Building entrance facilities
These are all valuable pathways and are mostly inadequate for transitioning to high density cables
and solutions.
Cables that qualify as high density are much larger diameter cables than what most IT and
operations teams are used to dealing with. The cables range from 16.5 mm up to 34 mm and have
strand counts that range from 432 to 864 and 1,728. Some hybrid cables have a strand count of
1,152 and new cables being released will have counts as high as 3,456.
Infrastructure manufacturers, like Telect, are tasked with making distribution frames smaller and
denser so the equipment will last longer.
© Telect, Inc. All rights reserved.
1.509.926.6000 :: www.telect.com
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PLANNING FOR THE HYPERSCALE FUTURE
Telect must create products, including high-density cable distribution frames, that are adaptable to
the needs of telecommunications companies, data centers, campus enterprises and
cloud-computing services.
Those needs can vary from a few hundred ports in a rack or two to tens of thousands in an
ODF lineup.
Our panel products support the needs for SC and LC in 1RU through 4RU panels that offer loaded and
unloaded cassette products interfacing with MPO trunks and cassette products with integrated TAPs
that support CPRI requirements.
The superHD™ ODF — along with our legacy product,
the advanced distribution frame — offers standard
modules with SC and LC and high-density trunk
MPO interfaces.
It’s the world’s highest-density fiber frame product with
4,608 terminations and 16 modules. The patch-only
frame is equipped with MPO interface or ISP-pigtailed
assemblies. Patch modules extend through the frame’s
center with single cable managers on the left and
right sides.
The patch-and-splice version holds 3,456 terminations
and 12 modules. It allows on-frame splicing with rear
ISP and OSP cable management, ribbon-fiber options
and industry-leading cable-management access. The
patch modules extend through the frame’s center with
single cable managers on the left and right sides.
Telect’s adaptive product lines allow for a robust
roadmap for future enhancements of highdensity networks.
Our product development team is working on an
extension of the ODF line that will allow even higher
density, both for rack mount housings and framebased products.
Telect is committed to providing wireless network
providers with more capabilities and capacities to
support a larger, more diverse customer base that the
hyperscale future will demand.
© Telect, Inc. All rights reserved.
1.509.926.6000 :: www.telect.com
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ABOUT JOHN SHUMAN
John has been working on network infrastructures for three
decades, bringing to Telect extensive knowledge of high-end fiber
optics and complex mesh architectures. As a senior physical layer
design engineer, he has achieved outside-the-box solutions for
optical communications.
John Shuman
Telect Sales Engineer
John has worked on new and legacy sites around the world,
including the U.S., Canada, Asia, South America and Europe. He
helps Telect customers overcome the barriers they encounter in
implementing complex solutions on their high-density networks. In
his spare time, he enjoys hiking in the California mountains.
ABOUT TELECT
Telect challenges the status quo and looks beyond what is
possible in network connectivity and power management. For more
than 33 years, we have designed and manufactured products for
customers with fiber and copper connectivity, power distribution
and rack management.
We listen closely to our customers to turn complex requests
into solutions that protect their connections and equipment. Our
products and solutions are found across communications service
provider networks, data centers and utility networks around
the globe.
© Telect, Inc. All rights reserved.
1.509.926.6000 :: www.telect.com
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