Pipeline Publishing, Volume 4, Issue 9
This Month's Issue:
New Doors, New Access
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In with the New:
Changing Access Technologies

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analogous to a Ford Taurus. A four-door, mid-sized sedan. Roomy. Comfortable. Good for a family of four. However, if you were to take a Ford Taurus and attempt to use it as a work truck or a bulldozer or an off-road vehicle or a racecar.... you might run into some trouble.

Then there's the issue of customer care, with which cablecos consistently have problems. Perhaps the companies are overextended, and perhaps they are working to correct the problems. However, anecdotal evidence aside, customer ratings of cablecos simply must improve if the companies are to remain in their very comfortable position near the top

However, if you were to take a Ford Taurus and attempt to use it as a work truck or a bulldozer or an off-road vehicle or a racecar.... you might run into some trouble.

process. Billions of dollars and years of time are needed, and what will happen to the technological landscape in the meantime? Will needs increase to the point that even a much larger bandwidth isn't enough? Will some other access technology roll along that renders FTTx irrelevant? This concern could be leveled at any sort of network buildout, but is a concern nonetheless.
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of the heap in terms of residential offerings.

FTTx: The Silver Bullet?

Growing every day is an access technology that contains as much promise as any. FTTx (in the form of fiber-to-the-home, fiber-to-the-premise, etc) is fast, capable, and championed by telcos that have experience delivering the level of service that consumers expect. “FTTx is a technology that is proven and is, in some regards the holy grail,” says Clausen. “Capacity and potential are huge and haven't yet been tapped.”

FTTx provides a big pipe that can support voice, video, and data services in a way that exceeds what is offered by cable, and does so with a greater degree of efficiency, planning, and customability. It provides what many see as the way for telcos to remain in the game in the face of pressure from competing SPs.

The downside? Cost and time. Deploying FTTx is a costly, difficult, and time-consuming


The Future of Access

Any or all of the above technologies could experience massive success or failure over the next few years and decades. However, a lot of that has to do with the companies offering the service far more than the pipe being traversed. OSS is, of course, a big part of the battle for success. What good is a fat pipe without the ability to deliver, monitor, and bill for the services delivered? QoS is a huge part of the game, and customers can be a fickle bunch.

Still, it's time for action. Cable is here and in place. It's time for it to mature. FTTx is here and coming soon to a neighborhood near you... if it can get there in time. WiMAX is sort of here, and sort of coming, and a lot of promise with no definite benefit yet. Perhaps, once it's found its feet, we can finally move past the saga of the last mile. Until, that is, the next big thing rolls into town.

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