Friday, March 23, 2012

Water-fiber system: cheap way to enter a home

There is a new branch in the ever expanding universe of fiber deployments, ranging from fiber-to-the-X to fiber-through-the-X.

The latest version has been trialed in Germany, in Adenau, last year: WFS (water-fiber system), or fiber-through-the-waterworks. The local water utility in nearby Bonn is working with the Adenau utility and two technology companies, Stadtwerke Bonn is reporting: FRIATEC (manufacturer of ducts and pumps) and egeplast pro cable. Now, it is proposed to bring fiber to the towns of Adenau and Altenahr, using this technology.
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It looks like the technology works by inserting an empty duct into the water duct, but only for the last few meters from the nearby fiber duct into the home. FRIATEC appears to have a similar solution for gas pipes.

Two memorable quotes:
"Es wird nicht mehr diskutiert, ob der Glasfaseranschluss nötig ist oder nicht. Es geht nur noch um die Frage, wie schnell und in welchen Konstellationen die Glasfaser zu den Kunden gelangt."
"Für Großstädte bringt diese Technik Einsparungen in Millionenhöhe, da aufwändige und kostenintensive Tiefbauarbeiten entfallen und für ländliche Bereiche scheint dies aktuell der einzige reale Ansatz um die Glasfaser bis zum Kunden zu bringen."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Both closures have been developed in a mutual effort of EWE (which is a North German utility, providing power + gas + telco services below Hamburg down to Osnabrück) and Friatec.

EWE used at least the gas closure several times. Nothing known about problems etc. The water pipe system is new, so no knowledge about practice.
best, Kai

Anonymous said...

The water pipe system is not new and is a globally patented solution developed by a UK company.