Video meets FTTH

It is interesting to study the evolution of how the video contents broadcast to viewers from early 20^th century to 21^st century. As many would have known, television is invented by many inventors in various stages.

• The word “Television” is first used in 1900. It was first started with mechanical TV built with mechanical scanning disc system. The TV picture is neon orange and very small.
• First mechanical TV sold to public in year 1928.
• Experimental electronic TV began broadcasting in Germany, England, Italy, France, USA, Holland and etc. from 1935 to 1941.
• 1 July 1941 commercial electronic Black and White TV began broadcasting in United States. From 1942 to 1945 World War-II halts all TV sales and most all public broadcasting.
• On June 25, 1951 First Mechanical Color Television Set Placed on Market (CBS-Columbia) at $499.95.
• Oct 20, 1951 Mechanical CBS Color TV Broadcasting ends forever. In May 1954 First All-Electronic Color Television Set is RCA CT-100, selling at $1,000.
• It was in June of 1956, that the TV remote controller first entered the American home. The first TV remote control called "Lazy Bones," was developed in 1950 by Zenith Electronics Corporation.
• Color TV booms as NBC leads the way and begins to use the phrase "The Full Color Network". By year's end, 96% of NBC's nighttime schedule is broadcast in color, along with all major programs, sports events and specials.
• In year 1987, Japanese demonstrate ANALOG high-definition TV system (called MUSE).
• Late 1990s, Internet, World-Wide-Web explodes onto the scene -- ushering in new global communications for the 21st century!

It was in 1996 that Web TV was rolled out and hit the market. Since then, many telephony service providers started to redefine their services to include “triple-play” which is voice, video and data connectivity into the consumer market.

FTTH gains popularity since then when video content providers require high bandwidth demand to deliver video contents to consumers. Today, the home entertainment system no longer just a combined system with hi-fi sound system or DVD player, but linking the TV to internet like Apple TV, Xbox, Tivo, Vudu, Intel VIVV and etc. The paradigm in contents delivery also changed to become more interactive and personalize. New service providers are booming such as Joost, Vuze, VeohTV, Babelgum and etc with full screen capability now and high definition quality soon.

The best investment is now on FTTH with favourable economics and could last longer than copper without major upgraded needed to the backbone of telephony system.

Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Fiber to the Home - FTTH by Email

Gaming Future with FTTH

I started online today by checking out some of the Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG or MMORG) sites. It has been a long time I quit my addiction on computer games and it is truly impressive to see the computer gaming industry has evolved from my first monochrome computer game, Pac Man, to highly graphic intensive 3-D virtual reality games. I always amaze with the games programmers and designers creativities in creating those games characters and scenes that are near to reality. The best part of their works is to make the gamers addicted to the games they produce.

I still remember some time back when I participated in my previous company in-house chess game and I decided to test my skill online as I have stopped playing chess after secondary school. And it did not take very long time for me to loose my first game, and I realized that I lost to a 13 year old kid from India. Skillful gamers are not going to feel satisfy just to play the games alone and always look for means to compete with other professional gamers. Online gaming become a tool to go beyond their circle of players and further enhance their skills. MMOG provide a good avenue for the gamers to not just play with someone within the premise but also to challenge nationally or internationally to satisfy their desire to win.

Key requirement for the future of online gaming with massive multiplayer capability is to enable higher network bandwidth to accommodate as many players as possible at a time. With FTTH comes into the picture, the gamers will be able to compete online with streaming game experiences and true high-quality video communications. The need to provide a massive database to allow dynamic user generated content is also highly desirable

.

Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Fiber to the Home - FTTH by Email

Fiber to the Home News: Asian Economies Continue to Set Pace on Market Penetration

Released by FTTH Council on 27 February 2008

Fiber to the Home Deployment Spreads Globally As More Economies Show Market Growth with Asian Economies Continue to Set Pace on Market Penetration - U.S, China and Japan Drive Volume

(WASHINGTON, DC) – The number of countries where fiber to the home connections are showing significant gains in the broadband services market continues to expand, according to an updated global ranking issued today by the Fiber to the Home (FTTH) Councils of Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America.

The new ranking, released today at the FTTH Council Europe’s annual conference in Paris and based on statistics gathered at the end of 2007, lists 14 economies where more than one percent of households are connected directly into high speed fiber optic networks. On the three councils’ first-ever ranking, released last July, 11 economies exceeded the 1 percent threshold. Slovenia, Iceland and Singapore were the new entries on the list.

Globally, 2007 was the best year yet in terms of numbers of new subscribers to FTTH services, thanks primarily to strong growth in Japan, China and the United States, where a total of nearly 6 million new FTTH households were added for the three countries.

The updated ranking shows that Asian economies continue to outpace the rest of the world in terms of FTTH market penetration, with South Korea moving into the top slot with 31.4% of households connected, followed by Hong Kong at 23.4% and Japan at 21.3%.

The United States, by more than doubling its penetration rate to 2.3%, moved up three places to eighth position, followed by two of the three countries making their first appearance on the chart, Slovenia at 1.8% and Iceland at 1.5%. The People’s Republic of China moved from tenth to eleventh place as direct fiber connections in that country moved up slightly to 1.5%. Netherlands, Italy and Singapore rounded out the list with market penetration rates ranging from 1.1 to 1.4%.

"It is no accident that Asia-Pac continues to be the fastest growing region for FTTH in the world, with more subscribers connected on fiber than all other regions combined,” said Schoichi Hanatani, President of the FTTH Council Asia-Pacific. “The rollout of FTTH has been encouraged by forward-looking governments and regulators in the Asia-Pac region for several years now. They understand that FTTH is a key strategic national infrastructure."

The global ranking follows the unified definition of FTTH terms announced by the three regional councils last year, and which has formed the basis for recent market research by each council. For completeness and accuracy the ranking includes both FTTH and FTTB (fiber-to-the-building) figures, while copper-based broadband access technologies (DSL, FTT-Curb, FTT-Node) are not included.

Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Fiber to the Home - FTTH by Email

Fiber to the Home (FTTH) Today

posted by Kevin Tan


Fiber to the Home or FTTH has become reality! ! The "last mile" of the final frontier of telephone or broadband networks, the home, is now connected with fiber optic cables.

Imagine a whole new world with internet connections having massive bandwidth in homes, schools, shopping centers and anywhere you can possibly at. You will be overwhelmed by the multitude of options from watching global high-definition television programs to virtual reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG) to voice and video conferencing with your buddies while performing your duties as a student or an employee all at the same time on single system without jitter. Doesn't that sound wonderful?

The reality of such a world can be achieved with a new service called the triple-play which combines the phone, internet and television on the network connecting to the premises.

Many homes today are still connected with low performance copper telephone wires. These cables will age and have limited bandwidth that cannot even support DSL connection speeds. Phone companies now agree that the best upgrade for their subscribers connection are to connect fiber optics to the premises (FTTP, FTTH, or FTTx) with low priced components for new network architectures that makes FTTH financially attractive for first timers compared to the increasingly high costs of maintaining old copper cable plants. Phone companies like Verizon, AT&T and Bell Canada are spending billions of dollars in plans to connect millions of homes and offices with fiber optics in the near future to enable them to compete with the cable modems used by CATV companies that provide broadband access.

CATV companies are considering fiber optics to replace aging coax since the price is reasonable and performance unlimited. Municipalities or private individuals are starting to install their own FTTH systems since phone and CATV companies can't do it soon enough. Even housing developers are learning about FTTH because their customers are demanding the highest bandwidth broadband connections.

Be prepared! We're now today in a global shift to a better and faster high speed internet world!


 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Fiber to the Home - FTTH by Email