New product line as an answer to Data Center needs

Opening a new product line is a big step. You are second to none when it comes to passive solutions – tell us, please, what do you do for a project?

Implementing a new product or service requires a number of activities and joint work of several departments. The project’s launch, together with the implementation of a new line of terminations for MTP® joints, was necessary to introduce new solutions on the market.

As the person responsible for developing the offer in the passive solutions product line, this task fell to me. I took my first steps in the FCA company as a technology department assistant in the fibre optic laboratory; with time, my responsibilities started to expand along with the development of sales skills and product and service knowledge. My experience allowed me and my team to successfully implement the project. The joint work of a whole group of highly qualified people led to the opening of a new product line, creating new opportunities and raising the position of FCA as an integrator and manufacturer of fibre optic solutions in the ICT industry.

I understand that opening a new product line is related to the growing market demand. More and more companies are starting the digital transformation process. Data security, service availability, and convenience of use are becoming very important. What does this movement look like in the data centre sector?

At the time of the pandemic, it has become essential that data processing and transmission are crucial to companies’ operations and the functioning of the economy as a whole. Remote working and learning, e-commerce, social media, digitisation of services for citizens, web browsing, streaming services for films and games increased web traffic. Since the beginning of the pandemic, traffic on the Polish Internet has increased by an average of 30% – which has meant a higher load on networks and servers. The covid-19 pandemic caused immediate changes in many areas of social and economic life. One of the positive effects of the pandemic in Poland is cited as digital transformation – a new way of working and digitising data.

So are common solutions no longer sufficient?

Exactly, which is why more and more businesses are choosing to invest in modern IT solutions. As the amount of data transferred increases, large computing capacities are needed for cloud computing, streaming and online communication in the broadest sense. A large proportion of employees will remain in remote working mode post-pandemic. We will also stay with many of the services that gained popularity during the pandemic.

All these needs are forcing a faster change and adaptation of networks now, and optical fibre has shown its advantage. For years, telecoms operators have invested multi-billions in building and developing the network to a level that meets users’ needs – but lockdown and remote occupation have significantly increased the demand for it. Access to broadband services and a stable connection is no longer sufficient.

PMR forecasts that by 2025 the colocation market will have grown by 12% in value and that the Polish market will have doubled within 5 years. The dynamics of the whole data centre market will average 14%. What does this mean?

The higher market growth is due to the increased importance of cloud, managed and value-added services in the area of cyber security. These provide business continuity, compared to a base service such as colocation. Moreover, this trend also extends to small and medium-sized businesses, which need to adapt their model to the current realities and will start to rely heavily on DC infrastructure services.

So, in a post-pandemic reality, will we be betting, above all, on the security of our data?

During a pandemic, in addition to the growing demands for vast amounts of processed and transmitted data, security has become very important – energy security, physical security, cyber security, including communication security. Each system failure generates substantial financial losses. Faults in the smallest elements cause negative consequences for the business. This is why appropriate optical infrastructure solutions have become as important as backup power, cooling, and IT systems.

The need to quickly configure and restore a network increases the demand for prefabricated solutions – the plug-and-play feature of cables translates into time savings of 90% compared to on-site terminated systems. Its operation takes about 50 % less time in terms of maintenance. Combined with the limited space available for fibre optic links, with growing demands, the use of new solutions – which guarantee a high fill factor – ensures a sufficiently large number of fibres within a single fibre connection.

So the new product line is a response to market demand. However, the question remains: why MTP® connectors?

Recently, we have seen a high risk of supply chain breakage from production facilities located in different parts of the world. At the same time, with the increase in demand resulting from the growing volume of processed data, it has become necessary to expand existing data centre facilities. The number of ongoing and planned investments in new processing centres providing commercial services is clearly increasing in Poland. Providing the right solution in a short time, has become more significant.

We have decided to expand the capabilities of our own optical fibre laboratory located in Niepołomice by creating a line for making terminations in optical infrastructure products with MTP® connectors. This action will help us react faster and be better prepared for the development of our telecommunications market in the post-pandemic reality.

FCA has been cooperating with Huber+Suhner for many years. Huber+Suhner is a globally recognised company that specialises in products dedicated to the Data Centre sector. How will the new product line influence the companies’ partnership?

Huber+Suhner has been our business partner since 1999. We have been working together for many years in the field of products dedicated to the Data Center sector. As the only Huber+Suhner partner in Poland, FCA has been shaping the development of the data centre sector – now focusing on new opportunities. Our partner’s products provide high performance, quality and reliability. They are recognised and used by major customers in Europe and worldwide. The new line strengthens our partnership and allows us to build an environment together. Our goal is to help customers facing increasing demands for space, efficiency and profitability. Huber+Suhner is a natural choice – being able to introduce solutions to build a data centre with a leader in this market is a distinction for us.

Why is FCA investing in MTP® fiber optic connectors?

Currently, a large proportion of network links use a single pair of fibres (duplex links); however, higher capacity can be achieved by combining duplex links into groups of connectors (parallel links). This is where MTP® fibre optic connectors come in, which – compared to the most popular LC connector – take up the same amount of space, guaranteeing the use of 24/32 fibres. MTP® systems have been deployed for years, but their use has become more significant – thanks to their ability to support duplex and parallel applications with great flexibility and sufficient reach for most data centre applications.

What makes the MTP®connector stand out in the market?

The MTP® (Multi-Fiber Pull-Out) connector is manufactured by Huber+Suhner under license from US Conec and is an improved version of the MPO connector. Therefore, the MTP® connector is fully compatible with the general MPO connector according to IEC and TIA standards requirements. It can be directly connected to the MPO fibre optic cable and devices equipped with such a connector. However, MTP® fibre optic connectors have improved transmission and mechanical properties compared to generic MPO fibre optic connectors. Moreover, their assembly is 75% faster than traditional fibre optic welding.

Krzysztof Karczewski interviewed by Marketing FCA