 Historique

Before the invention of the telephone by

Graham Bell in 1876, telecommunications
already used the telegraph. Then, thanks to the
research of Maxwell and Hertz, the information
was
took the air route. Finally, at the beginning of
the 1970s, the principle of
optical transmission using optical fiber:
transmitting light signals through
glass or plastic core

What Is Involved In A Fiber Optic Project?

A fiber optic project begins with a need
for communications and ends with an
installed fiber optic cable plant and an
operating network that fills that
communications need. Between those two
points are a number of stages:

• Concept
• Selling the project to decision
makers
• Getting financing
• Designing the project
• Installing the project
• Accepting the built network
• Operating and maintaining the
network
The Design
It is at the design stage that the
manager has the most important role in
the success of a fiber optic project. This
is not a time to delegate without
oversight. The manager must be able to
evaluate options presented and make
decisions based on the input of many
others.

Construction And Installation

Fiber optic cable plants can be
installed outside (called "OSP" for outside
plant) or indoors (called "premises"). The
OSP cable plant can be installed
underground, aerial or under water. All
have various techniques that can be
chosen depending on the geography of the
route or local requirements, for instance
that all cables must be placed
underground. Premises cabling is often a
mix of fiber optics and copper cabling. It
will be covered by codes like the NEC to
ensure safety for those inside the building.
FTTH: Fiber To The Home

Since the first installations of fiber

optic networks in the late 1970s, the goal
of the fiber optic industry has been to
install fiber optics all the way to the
home. Telecommunications systems were
usually divided into long distance,
metropolitan and subscriber categories. In
the beginning, the challenge was well
known - 10% of the cable plant was in
long distance, 10% was in metro and fully
80% of the cable plant was the "last mile"
- the subscriber. The issue was, and is,
the economics of fiber to the home
(FTTH.)

From an economic standpoint, fiber

was immediately cost effective in the
long-distance networks. Compared to
copper or digital radio, fiber’s high
bandwidth and low attenuation easily
offset its higher cost. Compared to copper
wire used in telephony, fiber could carry
thousands of times more phone
conversations hundreds of times further,
making the cost of a phone connection
over fiber only a few percent as much as
transmitting over copper.This photo was
used many times in the early days to
illustrate the information carrying
advantage of optical fiber:
It took only a few years before the rapidly
advancing technology of fiber optics led to
widespread use and fiber quickly
dominated the long distance market.
Crews buried cables underground or ran
aerial cables on poles nonstop for a
decade to upgrade long distance service.
At the same time, technology was
developed for submarine cables and by
the late 1980s, all overseas
communications expansion was done by
fiber optics, replacing copper cables and
satellites. Today, virtually all long
distance communications is carried over
the installed fiber optic network both on
land and via hundreds of submarine cables
as shown below.
 What Makes A Successful Fiber Optic
Project?

People call FOA for advice all the

time. Most of the calls deal with technical
questions about products, installation and
testing. But in one call; a manager who
was starting to plan a fiber optic project
wanted advice on how to proceed. It was
a long call! His basic question was “What
does it take to have a successful fiber
optic project?” We responded with 4
words: financing, commitment, expertise
and patience.
Figure: the optical fiber communication system
Technical Information on FTTX From The FOA Online Guide:

The Fiber Optic Association Fiber To The Home Handbook