Stratecast: All-fiber networks will take many years

Stratecast Partners predicts that it will take decades to replace the public copper network with a fiber-based infrastructure.

The company says this in its just-published report entitled �Fiber Networks and Optical Services.� The report offers a strategic view of global fiber network growth.

�The main theme of the report can be summarized by the following questions: How is the fiber network itself growing? Where has fiber been deployed so far, and where and how will it be deployed going forward?� says Jim Lawrence, program director for Convergence Strategies & Network Architectures, Stratecast Partners.

The report states that there is now plenty of long-haul fiber, and a good base of competitive metropolitan fiber is becoming available. The so-called �last mile� of cabling remains problematic, however, although various approaches are now addressing that segment as well.

�Nevertheless, replacing the ubiquitous copper network with a fiber-based infrastructure will be a decades-long process,� says Lawrence. �We believe this is key to understanding the actual pace of network evolution and infrastructure convergence.�

The report, part of the Convergence Strategies & Network Architectures Analysis Service, is now available.

Stratecast Partners, a division of Frost & Sullivan, provides strategic analysis of the telecommunications industry with a focus on the following areas: emerging service providers, data communications/IP growth strategies (of top tier service providers and equipment/emerging technology vendors), application hosting strategies/technologies, OSS and infrastructure convergence.

For more information or to order the report, reach Matt Kellogg at [email protected] or 530/893-1134.