INDUSTRY NEWS
COMMENT: NETWORK INSIGHTS FROM tribbles to
James Hickman
transformers, we all like a bit of science fiction. Science fact, on the other hand, can often make us wonder from where exactly the boffins get their ideas. Case in point, the recent news of how the propeller heads at Bell Labs have been squeezing more out of good old optical fibre. The principles of optical fibre were first toyed with as early as 1840, but it has only been over the last few decades that it
has really come into its own. Wonderful stuff, but it has a problem. The light going down the fibre hits all the little impurities as it goes. Imagine an Olympic hurdler but with the hurdles all being different shapes and sizes. If you turn the light power up, it gets worse because the impurities just bounce the light back. So what have the scientists done? Well, they’ve sent two runners down the track. Sorry, beams down the fibre. When one hits a hurdle, the other one doesn’t. By marrying the two beams up at the other end you can spot these errors and cancel them out. They’ve called it ‘phase conjugation’ for reasons probably best kept to themselves. The science is cool but what does that mean to the industry? Well, Bell Labs have managed to push 15.5 terabits per second over a single fibre spanning 7,000km. That means four times the bandwidth on the major Internet backbone trunks around the world without the need to pull the fibres off the sea bed. Previous proposals would have meant sending ships out to lay new fibre with devices set at intervals along the path to recreate the signal, which could have led to massive disruption, whereas this method will extend the life of existing infrastructure. This all comes on a wave of research into optical communication, so we can expect more advances to come.
James Hickman, CTO, Virtual1
Huawei opens new Reading-based HQ
HUAWEI has opened its new UK HQ at Green Park, Reading, marking a milestone in the com- pany’s pledge to invest £1.3bn into the economy over a five year period.
The opening was attended by
the Employment Minister Mark Hoban, who commented: “This is a significant investment in the UK which shows that we are open for business. “This Government is com- mitted to doing all that we can to help people achieve their aspiration of looking after them- selves and their families, and this investment will bring a jobs boost for the region.”
Meng and Hoban
The new 140,000 sq ft office will house Huawei’s main UK operation and will help meet the future needs of the company’s growing workforce.
Huawei’s move to Green Park follows the announcement in September 2012 that the com- pany would make investments of £650m and spend a further £650m on procurement in the UK over the next five years. Cathy Meng, Executive Director of the Board and CFO, Huawei Technologies, added: “The move marks the beginning of an exciting new period of development for Huawei UK. The UK is an innovation hub and already playing a key role in the global digital economy.”
Got a news story? email:
sgilroy@bpl-business.com
NIMANS’ Chairman Julian Niman held a family fun day to mark his 60th birthday celebrations, inviting all Nimans staff to an open air party that featured giant bird puppets, a free hog roast, drinks and ice cream, as well as various
games and activities. Nimans’ ‘official’ birthday is in October but he decided to stage a summer bash that would maximise enjoyment for staff. “Nimans is like one big family to me so what better way to celebrate,” he said. “I feel like the Queen, having two birthdays in a year!”
16 COMMS DEALER JULY 2013
www.comms-dealer.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64