Thursday, 26 July 2007

Ericsson Sets Up Fiber-to-the-Home Lab in Singapore

Telecommunicaitons goliath Ericsson made headlines on Monday when it announced that it has set up a new laboratory in Singapore that will serve as a test bed for high-speed fixed broadband services based on Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) solutions...

Telecommunicaitons goliath Ericsson made headlines on Monday when it announced that it has set up a new laboratory in Singapore that will serve as a test bed for high-speed fixed broadband services based on Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) solutions.

The new lab, which is the very first of its kind in South East Asia, will provide major operating customers in Singapore and within the region a platform to conduct end-to-end proof-of-concept (POC) for a number of fixed broadband solutions and services. One such key component of the POCs conducted at this lab will be the verification of applications over the Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) network.

“The laboratory will showcase FTTH applications and Service Layer solutions like the Ericsson Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) solution, Video-on-Demand, High Definition programs and Ericsson’s Converged Multimedia Solutions (CMS),” said Ann Emilson, President and Country Manager, Ericsson Singapore.

Emilson told SDA Asia that in addition to that the labs will also present Ericsson’s capabilities in providing integrated end-to-end FTTH network management solutions, for both Operational Support Systems (OSS) and Business Support Systems (BSS).

There will also be chance to showcase Ericsson’s Air Blown Fiber Cabling portfolio Ribbonet, a cost efficient technology that will allow hassle-free, airflow supported injection of pre-connectorized optical fiber strands in pre-deployed micro ducts for distances of up to 2 kilometers- simplifying design, deployment and future proofing fiber access networks- a method that has become the dominant FTTH deployment solutions in more mature FTTH markets.

Ericsson has previously deployed FTTH solutions in North America and Europe. The company hopes to leverage its rich base of innovations, and extensive expertise and experience to meet the demands of the regions’ high-speed broadband infrastructure.

Ericsson declined to reveal how much it has invested in the new laboratory which has been operational since June 2007. It did however mention to SDA Asia that it has “…put in significant effort and investments to bring in the right and high quality expertise from all over the world to make this lab a world class setup.”