March 28, 2005 Atlanta, GA -- Wave7 Optics, a provider of point-to-multipoint Ethernet FTTP systems, today announced the completion of its "single-fiber" FTTP network in Japan, providing "triple play" voice, RF video, and data services. According to a press release, for the project, Japanese partner Yagi Antenna deployed the company's "Last Mile Link" network equipment from central office to customer premises locations. The partner also deployed the remainder of FTTP infrastructure, including multilayer switch, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) server, and video head-end equipment.
Undertaken jointly by the municipality of Taki-Cho (Shimane prefecture) and Izumo Cable Vision in October 2004, the $6.2M project covers a region of 44 square km and connects more than 1300 homes. According to the release, this figure represents more than 90 percent of the municipality's residents. All of the municipality's residents are to be eventually connected. According to the release, the municipality and the provider fielded the project because most of the region is located in a "blind spot" with regard to terrestrial digital broadcast television.
"Taki Cho is one of our most strategic overseas deployments to date and we look forward to providing the support Izumo and Yagi need in the years ahead," remarks Emmanuel Vella, chief marketing officer of Wave7 Optics.
Current services include 35 television and two FM radio channels, symmetrical high-speed Internet connections, an interactive, community tele-text system, and VoIP telephony based on the latest version of SIP and its extensions. With this, the provider says it can offer a range of telephony features including call forwarding, caller ID, and "follow me" functionality.
"Izumo opted to deploy an FTTP network as opposed to a more conventional HFC system because FTTP is getting closer to HFC in terms of economics, but far exceeds it in performance and bandwidth to accommodate more services," notes Vella.
The company says its single-fiber "Last Mile Link" system is less expensive to deploy and maintain than dual-fiber equipment, which loads upstream and downstream traffic onto separate fibers. According to the release, the system also supports Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP) and Network-based Call Signaling (NCS).