Alcatel, Corning Incorporated and Optical Solutions announced the formation by them and other companies of the Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council. The FTTH Council's charter is educating, promoting and accelerating the deployment of fiber-to-the-home in North America.
The FTTH Council will comprise members from the following industries: telecommunications, computing, networking, system integration and content-provider businesses. Other members in the Council include traditional telecommunications service providers, utilities, municipalities and real estate developers.
The following thus far have committed to forming the FTTH Council: Adesta Communications, AFL Telecommunications, Alcatel, American Power Conversion, Atlantic Engineering Group, CopperCom, Inc., Corning Incorporated, Financial Strategies Group, LLC (FSG), iWired, Inc., Lightwaves Communications Systems, Inc., Network Telco, Inc., Nexans, Optical Solutions, Pirelli Communications Cables & Systems NA, Science Applications International Corporation, Sumitomo Electric Lightwave, Team Fishel, Wave7 Optics, Inc., and World Wide Packets.
"By joining forces to educate the industry about fiber to the home and its benefits, we can effectively accelerate FTTH deployment, as Alcatel has done with other broadband access technologies," said Lionel Adnet, vice president of Alcatel's Advanced Systems Group.
Participation in the Council is open to all organizations interested in advancing the FTTH technology, according to Wendell Weeks, president of Optical Communications at Corning. "As demand for communications networks with expanded capabilities constantly increases, optical fiber clearly offers significant advantages over legacy copper systems."
The FTTH Council will hold its first meeting to elect a board of directors and committee chairpersons and to ratify its 2001 agenda in August. Legal counsel for the FTTH Council will be appointed at that meeting.