Size Matters: When It Comes To FTTH Feployment In MDUs, Less Is More

By Linnea Wilkes, Business Development Manager, 3M

Since the dawn of residential telephone service, consumers have demanded more aesthetically pleasing products from the communications industry. From sleeker home phones to the disappearing cable box to shrinking modems, size – or lack thereof – has been a critical driver of innovation. It's not enough to provide excellent products and services; they have to look good, too. Consumers want triple play and high-speed broadband services, but they don't want to see clunky components strewn about their homes. Meanwhile, the omnipresent need to improve product performance and services while reducing cost continues to motivate the highly competitive communications industry.

Nowhere is this trifecta of drivers more apparent than in the hot multi-family dwelling (MDU) market. Since 2006, when deployment of fiber optic networks to apartments and condominiums began in earnest in North America, industry suppliers quickly responded to the demand for high-performing, unobtrusive, cost-effective network hardware.