When a large number of fibers must be reconfigured, as in a communications network or in more recent
fiber to the curb (FTTX) applications, the most economical switching arrangement is an NxM array.
Looking to the future, BellSouth is promoting its fiber-to-the-curb technology With
fiber to the curb, BellSouth runs fiber to cabinets in the local neighborhood roughly 500 feet from each home.
He supplies vocabulary quizzes, references, and very clear illustrations why just getting the
fiber to the curb is not enough.
Carriers can eliminate the enormous costs and lead times associated with trenching
fiber to the curb. Most importantly, leveraging the existing infrastructure instead of constructing new facilities will improve customer retention by accelerating the time required to deploy high-demand services.
"[As a business community] we love fiber, but you have to be adaptable and flexible to the building because 95 percent of the buildings in the United States don't have
fiber to the curb. If you don't have it there, then the building service provider is obligated to tunnel in and deploy fiber, which can be an expensive and time-consuming process," he says.
In fact, in Singapore, there's
fiber to the curb in residential neighborhoods.
With
fiber to the curb (or fiber to the pedestal) expected to come on strong, radio relay equipment for WIN services can economically be placed near the subscriber.