Growth in Backhaul and Data Centers
November 18, 2008
I was asked to speak to the growth in backhaul demand as well as what we’re focusing on at AFS relative to that and other areas of opportunity. With the economy in a state of flux, we are seeing two areas of continued growth for all optical services: wireless backhaul and data centers.
Wireless backhaul continues to grow at double digit rates as more and more data IP applications get deployed wirelessly. We are building fiber to towers for wireless carriers. Outside of the demand, the fiber to the tower by AFS does two things for wireless operators. The first, we are not the ILEC, so you are not funding AFS to steal your customers. The second, fiber access is the most prudent, reliable and future proof way to go given escalating demand. However, what I am finding amusing is that certain carriers are getting snookered by believing copper bonding is a solution.
My reality check: AFS has done copper bonding as a test in one of our markets. Bottom line: we have ruled copper bonding out. It is only as reliable as a copper loop is until the next rain storm, signal dispersion ratio and its distance limitations. At AFS we go out of our way to avoid copper Type 2 anything. Some data: on our networks where we have some copper Type 2’s, over 95% of our service alarms per month are from these Type 2 circuits. Our end-to-end, all fiber enabled customers have had 100% service reliability since our inception eight years ago. At AFS we deliver on-time, and our networks are highly reliable. I see no use changing to copper bonding and risking our business reputation on ILEC copper pairs.
The second area of substantial growth is data centers. Enterprises and data center owners are recognizing the importance of having diverse optical network connectivity coupled with ring-protect fail over, circuit-protection and card level redundancy. Enterprise customers have learned that fiber to the data center which is diverse is a necessity to even enter a data center. It wasn’t long ago where the assumption was that the transport already exists at a data center placing the cart before the horse. On-time delivery, network reliability/diversity is very important to customers of data centers.
Shoot Dave an email or leave a comment below.
Written by Dave Rusin - Telecom Executive
Posted by admin | Filed Under American telecom, Fiber bandwidth, Telecom USA, Telecom broadband, Telecommunications companies, Telecommunications industry, Trends + telecommunications, Trends in telecommunications
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Dave,
What sort of backhaul deals do you see nowadays. Market-wide, or one tower at a time, or mostly in between? Are they supplementing your fiber to some towers with copper from other providers to other towers where it is not justified, or are they using wireless backhaul to the towers you bring on-net?
Fiber, fiber, fiber. At least, you are regular.
Your company’s business plan may fit you well, but that doesn’t mean it is the only correct plan. It’s like you started the blog as a pulpit to scream at the Industry. Everyone is wrong but you. It reminds me of listening to Cogent’s CEO at ISPCON. It’s great as CEO that you both are fanatical about your companies but sometimes that blinds you - and other times puts people off.
Considering that it is unlikely in my lifetime to have fiber to every business and home, there’s room for other plans.
I do notice when customers ask for quotes from me into or out of 56, it isn’t Cogent or AFS they ask for. And in my first dealing with Zayo, it has been a frustrating mess. KDL is worse to deal with than AT&T. So in 9 years of dealing with “fiber players”, I haven’t found your kin to be helpful or easy to use. You might want to talk about that.
- Peter