Research and development for broadband services

Together the leading users of telecommunication services in Europe have undertaken a large research and development project. The target was to develop a competitively priced solution that is secure for many years to come for the provisions of broadband services. The European Institute for Research and Strategic Studies in Telecommunications (EURESCOM) was asked by the telecommunication users to plan, coordinate and lead this project, named “BOBAN” – Building and Operating Broadband Access Networks.

Very quickly it was realised, that the most cost effective way of bringing the fibre optic net nearer to the premises, was to develop an outdoor cabinet and therefore the requirements were discussed with the cabinet specialist Schroff. During the last year Schroff delivered twelve specially designed outdoor cabinets for the installation in outside locations in Europe, which are being tested stringently at present.

The most important targets of BOBAN were:

• Gaining of practical experience in operation and management of different boardband systems.
• Development of methods and procedures for network control
• Demonstration of competitively priced systems for fibre optics
• Development and demonstration of a prototype for the broadband access cabinet
• Determination of basic specifications for a common planning tool for a broadband access network

Competitively priced solution for an area network

A twin-wire copper telephone cable goes to almost every house in the Western world. Considering the exorbitantly high cost of the implementation of a pure fibre optic network, it was necessary to develop a solution to combine the twin-wire copper infra structure and the high speed fibre optic network, which is structured for high broadbands. EUROSEOM came to the conclusion, that the best way to do this, would be a step-by-step procedure. This scenario is based on the installation of the outdoor cabinets in the street, which are connected via fibre optic cables of a length of normally 1.5 km, with the local operator, who supplies the customer in the surrounding of 300m with the broadband connections via the existing twin-wired copper cable infra structure.

Joint development with EURESCOM

During the development of outdoor systems for modern broadband networks, managers and engineers have to consider many factors which are beyond their influence, e.g. weather, vandalism, practicality, environmental conditions to name only a few. The BOBAN project was involved intensively with the specification, implementation and testing of the cabinets, which are suitable for the broadband systems. The question is: What are the demands of today’s network operators for the broadband technology of outdoor cabinets.

To establish the final “specification for broadband cabinets” and to develop and an exact picture of the electronic cabinet design, EUROSOM prepared a detailed study and distributed this to the electronic cabinet suppliers. After the results of the study were analysed with regard to the requirements of the project partners, the development team, a group of experts from the partnership and the chosen cabinet manufacturer, designed an electronic cabinet, which fulfils the BOBAN specifications. For the development of the cabinet it was decided to choose the electronic packaging specialist Schroff. A standard product of Schroff, the outdoor cabinet, was customised. It contains connections for the local transmission and DSL-connections to the houses and office buildings in the neighbourhood and represents an effective bridge/link between fibre optic cables and copper wire technology.

However, Schroff offer more than just a cabinet. With an all inclusive system integration capability the company provides a comprehensive service. The cabinet specialist is in a position to realise individual concepts for every special application. The target is to offer the customer a complete solution for its 19”-technology. Therefore the company integrates in a cabinet or a case all necessary basic components, like cable management, backplanes, fans, cabinet heating, EMC measures, power supplies and/or cabinet control. Users receive operating systems, in which they can install their own components. Schroff looks after such a project over the whole process, from specification and design via purchase, prototype implementation, tests and controls to production.