INTELLIGENT CABLING
Why FTTO networks are driving
sustainability and transformation
of digital enterprises
With Digital Transformation increasingly
becoming mainstream, Arafat Yousef,
Managing Director – Middle East and
Africa, Nexans Cabling Solutions,
draws attention to how FTTO network
architectures are better suited for scale,
agility and for varied use cases.
ith the arrival of 5G, Smart Cities
and connected cars – large
scale, intelligent networks
promise to dominate country, regional and
global landscapes over the next 10 years.
Wireless and wired networks are growing
tremendously with intelligent and semi-
intelligent sensors distributed at the Edge,
relaying trends and insights, downstream to
decision makers.
Sustainability, innovation, efficiency
and citizenship promise to be in-country
hallmarks for the UAE with the appointment
of the Minister of Climate Change and
Environment, Advanced Sciences, Artificial
Intelligence and Happiness and Wellbeing.
Along with smart production, distribution,
consumption – conservation of energy will
increasingly become an integral part of the
UAE’s or any nation’s most valued system.
A study published by the European
Commission points out that the global ICT
industry generates up to 2% of all global
CO2 emissions. Networking components
and cabling, computing and data centres,
connected devices and sensors, all consume
energy and are responsible for generating
heat and emitting CO 2 into the environment.
W
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS
INTELLIGENT
TECH CHANNELS
Issue 26
As the digital economy grows exponentially,
so will consumption of energy and
production of heat and CO 2 .
Similar to all aspects of the ICT industry,
Digital Transformation has triggered a wave
of efficiency standards into networking
and connectivity infrastructure. In the past,
while twisted pair copper cabling may have
been sufficient to meet all the requirements
of enterprises, going forward additional
efficiency metrics and architectures will be
required. Increasingly, the advantages of
the role of Fibre To The Office (FTTO) are
getting highlighted, as being beneficial over
traditional LAN.
FTTO is a hybrid network consisting of fibre
optic and twisted pair copper patch cords with
connectors. In an FTTO network environment,
fibre is laid from the central distribution switch
right into the office floor, where it ends in
active FTTO switches within the workplace.
The last leg of 3 to 5M is connected through
standard twisted pair patch cords.
The advantages and disadvantages of
FTTO over traditional LAN is quite stark. Fibre
optic cabling used in FTTO, as a medium is
a dielectric and does not allow the flow of
current. Hence, it does not generate heating
and electromagnetic wave inductions. It also
does not require thick insulation covers, which
reduces the bulk and has almost no practical
limits to a single length of cabling.
Twisted pair cabling has a core length
of copper metal and no matter how pure,
the cable does generate heat, as well as
electromagnetic wave inductions, whenever
Arafat Yousef, Managing
Director – MEA,
Nexans Cabling Solutions
there are fluctuations in the current
strength. Because of these limitations, there
is a maximum length that the copper cable
can be used for.
The energy consumption pattern
of copper cabling and its total cost of
ownership are significantly higher than
FTTO. In a traditional copper-based
Ethernet network with 1,000 ports, the
annual electricity consumption is estimated
to be 82,322kWh. However, if the same
network is built using an FTTO architecture,
the electricity consumption would be
30,380kWh per year.
In general, with an FTTO architecture,
energy bills can be 70% lower, total cost
of ownership is reduced by 40% and
installation time is reduced by 60%. Some of
the other advantages of FTTO networks can
be listed as below:
Fibre is the most futureproof cabling
technology currently available
Less energy is required to drive data in
FTTO networks versus copper networks
Less energy and fibre optic material
create less electromagnetic interference
Due to smaller diameter there are a
greater number of FTTO cables in the
same space.
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