BROADBAND PROPERTIES | | July 2008 That Handles Mainly Carrier Ethernet Has Home Architecture for Verizon’S Fios

Broadband 2 0TOP Properties 0 www.bbpmag.com 8100 This year’s listing shows new emphasis on companies that sell equipment and software for network monitoring, provisioning, and customer service. A BBP Staff Report his year’s Top 100 continues a tive business plans and technology Prysmian – a major fiber and copper ca- trend from last year, with growth configurations. ble vendor worldwide (it was spun out of Tin the number of awardees on the • Helping others deploy networks, by Pirelli) was expanding its fiber business network management side of the busi- supplying key hardware, software, here, selling such products as its blown ness. Most exciting: billing and network design services, construction services fiber and massive fiber ribbon cables. monitoring software that can seamlessly and so forth. But it had been making a bigger FTTx handle the triple play and a whole lot • Introducing innovative technolo- impact in the US only since 2006. It more. This year’s listing also rewards gies, even if the technologies have didn’t make the Top 100 last year, but suppliers of fiber and systems for both not been commercially deployed at was an easy call this time. inside and outside plant – a new class of the time the list is compiled. We’re Corporate form and overall organi- equipment made possible by bend-tol- always on the lookout for technolo- zational size are not important. Non- erant fiber – and developers of entirely gies that change the rules – by re- profit entities such as municipal fiber new PON technologies. ducing early deployment costs, for network operators are eligible. Individu- CRITERIA instance, or making builds signifi- als are not eligible, but companies with The editors look for organizations that cantly cheaper overall. as few as three full-time employees have been selected in the past four years. are advancing the cause of fiber to the To be listed among the Broadband As recently as four years ago, we gave premises. The ways they might do this Properties Top 100, organizations can special emphasis to organizations with are many: be based anywhere in the world, but the guts to deploy fiber to the home – • Deploying fiber networks. We look must do at least some business in the specific housing developers, for instance, for large deployments, or for innova- United States. Last year, we noted that and VoIP providers. Two years ago, the list still included many technology companies that certainly enabled fiber TOP 100 AT A GLANCE builds, but whose emphasis was deeper High-Speed Broadband Providers. | 44 in the network – bringing fiber to the Private Cable Operators and Fiber Optic Amenity Providers. .| 49 neighborhood, for instance, or specializ- Network Testing, Monitoring and Management Services. | 55 ing in carrier Ethernet. We admired their Video Programming Aggregators. | 59 network management technologies and Network Planning, Design, Engineering, Construction. | 61 their contribution to First Mile fiber. Fiber-to-the-Home Electronics . | 63 But the bar continues to rise. Today, Customer Premises Equipment . | 69 there’s broad understanding among poli- Fiber Management. .| 75 cymakers, financiers, real estate owners, Fiber and Fiber Cable. .| 77 and developers that the greater risk is Management Solutions. .| 79 in not having fiber on the property. So Test Equipment. .| 81 being a “fiber pioneer” is not necessar- ily that courageous. And any company 32 | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | www.broadbandproperties.com | JULY 2008 that handles mainly carrier Ethernet has home architecture for Verizon’s FiOS. MAKING A DIffEREncE to “do more” for FTTH. An example on ARRIS, on the other hand, made the For us, the key tiebreaker question, as this year’s list is ADTRAN, which re- list this year when it acquired C-COR, always, was this: Will this company peated from last year because its MSAPs a company that was already there for its make a difference in the fiber broadband and routers (some with WiFi and net- on-demand video technology. industry in the coming year? To put it work logical layer 3 switching) help The extra attention to network another way: Would the industry suffer enable many business plans for FTTH. monitoring hardware and software, and if this company did not exist? Thus, a Another is Pannaway. to customer service software, led us to few component vendors such as Alliance Likewise, there are about 600 organi- new Top 100 listings this year for Cali- Fiber Optic Products, which designs, ent Networks, EXFO, FiberZone, Great zations deploying FTTH now, so deploy- manufactures and markets high-perfor- Lakes Data Systems, IneoQuest, Pro- ers either have to be very large or have to mance fiber optic components such as cera, and Spirent. show us extra-special business innova- thin-film CWDM and DWDM compo- tion on the fiber front to make the cut. DIRECTV and DISH Networks nents and modules, make the list, even Broadweave, Connexion Technologies, are both on the list this year, thanks to though their products are buried deep in GVTC, Hiawatha Broad band Commu- deployment of fiber-based distribution FTTH vendor offerings such as splitters nications, LTS Group, Shentel, Surewest systems within MDU complexes. and ONTs, and few of our readers would and Zoomy Com munications met these CAblE SEES A PON FUTURE deal with such firms directly. Other ex- criteria. Most notable of companies that Indeed, traditional franchise cable com- aren’t on the list this year? AT&T. amples are PMC-Sierra and TXP (an- panies have ratified PON in other ways Also, companies like 3M, for which other new listing this year). MRV sells as well. Many companies, both old and fiber is a small but growing part of the components but also has products sold new to our list, are also working on ways business, must continue to innovate and directly to network builders. to allow such companies to deliver signals expand their fiber-related offerings. But So do Alpha Technologies and Em- all the way to the premises. The technol- this year, it is tough to find a fiber site erson Network Power, whose battery ogy, generically, is called RF Over Glass, that does not include at least one 3M backup systems are increasingly cru- and it may be the near-term way for cable product, and 3M offers welcome sup- cial to residential fiber deployments. to match FTTH bandwidth. Companies MetaSwitch would make the list if only port to the FTTH Council. So 3M on our list with announced RFOG prod- because so many FTTH network pro- made the list. ucts include ADC, Alloptic, ARRIS, An- We have a separate listing for dis- tronix, Aurora Networks, Calix, Cisco viders use its hardware for VoIP. But it tributors, scheduled for publication in (which calls its technology D-PON, for is also moving to enable better network late fall. But several distributors such as DOCSIS Passive Optical Network), management tools and a wide range of AMT, EMBARQ Logistics, Graybar, CommScope, Corning, Enablence Tech- new broadband services. Pace International, Multicom and Toner nologies, Nokia Siemens Networks, In a few cases, we made close judg- Cable Equipment make the Top 100 as Occam Networks, OFS, Tellabs, and ment calls. New listing Antronix, for in- well, by offering VAR services and par- TeraSpan. Will Comcast and other cable stance, is well known in the coax busi- ticularly compelling product lines – or MSOs deploy enough PON networks to ness for its splitters and other passives, even developing their own products. make the list next year? and only recently entered the FTTH/ We sometimes, but rarely, list divisions of larger companies, where the division brand name is particularly well-known. New This Year Carlon (a vendor of innovative ducts and raceways for fiber) is an example 1. Actiontec Electronics 14. Hiawatha Broadband this year. But Enablence Technologies is 2. Antronix 15. IneoQuest well enough known in its own right, so 3. ARRIS 16. Kabel-X details of its new Wave7 Optics unit are 4. Aurora Networks 17. MRV Communications covered in the Enablence listing. 5. Calient Networks 18. Multicom 6. Design Nine 19. Pacific Broadband Networks NEW LIstINGS 7. Dish Network 20. Procera Networks Actiontec Electronics is new to the list 8. DIRECTV 21. Prysmian this year, even though it was founded 15 9. EXFO Optical Engineering 22. Radiant Communications years ago. Its residential broadband net- 10. FiberZone Networks 23. Spirent Communications working router provides connectivity at 11. Great Lakes Data Systems 24. TeraSpan speeds of up to 100 Mbps and supports 12. Greenfield Communications 25. TXP remote management and troubleshoot- 13. GVTC 26. Tyco Electronics ing. The router is the basis of the digital JULY 2008 | www.broadbandproperties.com | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | 33 Broadband 2 0TO P Properties 0 www.bbpmag.com 81 0 0 FTTB market with a bidirectional fi- and came roaring back. It easily made would respond. They did. Corning and ber node. Radiant Communications, our list this year. others also introduced new in-building also a new listing, was mainly a military We keep thinking about construc- distribution systems, taking advan- supplier but has increased its civilian tion equipment vendors on the list, firms tage of bend-tolerance to cut the size of footprint. Another new listing is Pacific such as Astec Underground, Vermeer, equipment boxes and other inside plant Broadband Networks, an Australian TT Technologies and Ditch Witch. Fi- equipment. Result: Urban areas because vendor that only recently entered the US ber is a small part of their business. But new targets for FTTH over the past 12 market. The field is crowded with many as deployments increasingly move into months, even as greenfield builds were good vendors already on the Top 100 urban areas and around built-up MDUs, faltering due to the broad economy.

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