The Association for Passive Optical LAN (APOLAN), the non-profit organization driving both education and adoption for passive optical local area networks (POL), is providing a roadmap for how POL can streamline an organization’s smart building digital transformation to keep pace with the massive growth in Internet of Things (IoT) and mobility applications. In addition to space, cost, energy and other savings, converging all services on one network to provide unparalleled speed, reliability and future-proof scalability, will be an essential piece for future business success, contends the group.
“With the total number of connected devices expected to top 20 billion by 2020, enterprises across the spectrum, including retail stores, offices, hospitals, university campuses, airports, medical research facilities and hotels, are scrambling to develop smart buildings to meet increasingly complex mobility, IoT and big data requirements,” says Alan Bertsch, Qypsys President and APOLAN chairman. “To keep up with these growing connectivity needs, modern network backbone technologies must deliver scalability to accommodate greater bandwidth as well as availability that keeps businesses going even at their busiest times.”
According to APOLAN, "POL presents the essential piece to the digital transformation puzzle. It converges all services across a single fiber-based infrastructure, eliminating the need for multiple platforms while providing highly scalable, high-speed data services to all users. This includes voice, video, data and video-conferencing services, as well as wireless access and monitoring functions, such as building automation systems and security applications. POL is superior compared to the legacy, copper-based LAN options. Consideration for how network convergence over POL delivers in the development of smart buildings, include:
- Voice, video, data, VoIP connectivity can all be handled with 2.4Gbps downstream and 1.2Gbps upstream.
- The distance to end users can be expanded to up to 20 kilometers or more, compared to 300 feet with copper.
- By transmitting and receiving on a single cable simultaneously, less square footage is required to manage networks. This means greater space saving that allows enterprises to use previously needed areas for purposes other than IT.
- With fewer HVAC prerequisites and limited active equipment required, less energy is needed compared to legacy options, which both saves money and provides green benefits.
- Streamlining all network needs into a single backbone delivers network simplicity and creates time-saving opportunities for IT teams.
- All this can be done with lower capital costs. Converging into a single network results in less equipment specifications and, as fiber optic cabling lasts more than a decade before needed upgrading (compared to 5-7 years for copper cabling), less long-term cost."
For more information, visit http://www.apolanglobal.org/.