Two Million Connections with GlobalInvacomâs FibreIRS

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COMPANY Report Fibre Optic Manufacturer GlobalInvacom, UK Congratulations! Five Years of Fibre Optic Systems from GlobalInvacom Alexander Wiese ë Stevenage ■ Ivan Horrocks is happy: GlobalInvacom's FibreIRS system is celebrating its fifth birthday with two million users connected to optical satellite signals. 190 TELE-audiovision International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine — 11-12/2013 — www.TELE-audiovision.com www.TELE-audiovision.com — 11-12/2013 — TELE-audiovision International — 全球发行量最大的数字电视杂志 191
1. Gary Stafford is responsible for GlobalInvacom's business development. He came up with the idea in 2007 to distribute the satellite IF of an LNB via fibre optic cables. From there came the FibreIRS products. 2. Matt Presdee looks after their Technical support for the sales department and is very familiar with the wiring of GlobalInvacom's devices. Here we see him on the balcony of GlobalInvacom's headquarters in Stevenage north of London. Using a number of satellite dishes (equipped, of course, with GlobalInvacom fibre optic LNBs) he tests their products. 3. Dr. Andrew Collar is especially familiar with optical technology. Here he is performing experiments with an optical polarization controller to determine the system performance characteristics of an optical system. 4. Mike Jones is one of the principle technical designers for the optical system 1 In 2008 the first fibre optic LNB was introduced by GlobalInvacom. This made it possible to carry a satellite signal from a fibre optic LNB across miles of fibre optic cable and then, even more importantly, split it multiple times without any concern for signal attenuation. Five years have gone by since then so we wanted to know how things were going with fibre optic technology; has it been successful? The answer to this question is a resounding YES! This is true even though this involves a completely new technology; distributing satellite signals via coaxial cable is still standard today. Coax technology has long been a proven method and has been in use for more than 100 years. A fundamentally new technology would be difficult to push through - it would have to have many advantages and these advantages would have to be obvious. Sure enough, Ivan Horrocks, GlobalInvacom‘s Sales Director, says the FibreIRS system has been a great success: „In the five years since its introduction, we estimate that this technology has been used to connect in excess of two million households.“ Over the past several years GlobalInvacom has continued to develop this fibre optic technology under the name FibreIRS (Fibre Integrated Reception System). Especially interesting is the expansion to terrestrial TV signals such that today GlobalInvacom‘s system can be simultaneously used for satellite signals as well as terrestrial TV signals. Ivan Horrocks explains to us how this all got started: „Gary Stafford came up with the original idea.“ He runs the Business Development section and began working on an LNB system that distributed signals via fibre optic cable. „Our first FibreIRS product was still fed directly from the LNB and distributed the signal through a 16-way split regime.“ An improved model was introduced in 2009 where the LNB signal could be distributed so a maximum of 32 users could be connected directly to the fibre optic satellite signal. „In 2010 we expanded the system again by introducing the ODU32 which allowed terrestrial TV signals to be added. In 2011/2012 we introduced the wholband splitter which allowed us to combine 4 X ODU32’s together catapulting the maximum number of subscribers to 256. But this was still not enough.” But it still wasn‘t enough: „Our newest system is the just recently devel- tion operations in China that produce our fibre optic products; we have been trading since then as a Plc on the Singapore stock exchange.“ Because of this and also because of the steadily increasing number of employees, the total number of employees right now totals 1600. „About 1200 of those are involved in production“, explains Gary Stafford, „In Great Britain there are about 300 employees and in our branch offices in the USA, Singapore and Maoped O2E Converter: with this system we can connect sixty four 64-output ODU32’s.“ This results in an incredible 64 x 64 = 4096 connections, all fed from a single LNB that can be installed on a single satellite antenna installed in an optimal location since distances are not a factor when using a fibre optic signal distribution system. GlobalInvacom FibreIRS product sales have been increasing 20% year after year. „Of course, this is subject to fluctuations“, we learn from Ivan Horrocks, „Our largest market is northern Europe. There we sell 40 -50% of all our fibre optic products. Another important market is MENA (the Middle East and North Africa), 20% of our fibre optic products are shipped there.“ He sees the strongest growth in Southeast Asia: „Sales have greatly increased there. Right now it encompasses about 30% of our fibre optic products.“ GlobalInvacom‘s best-selling fibre optic product is the Quattro model. „Multiswitches are connected to these and are therefore best suited for smaller communities.“ The highest growth can be seen with the Quad model: „Four receivers can be directly connected to this model and is the best way to go with individual reception in homes (Direct-to-Home).“ As you can see, more and more private homes as well as the installation in single apartments or houses are opting for GlobalInvacom‘s fibre optic system. And there‘s even more news from GlobalInvacom. Business Development Manager Gary Stafford tells us more: „In 2012 we acquired the two produc- 3 4 2 192 TELE-audiovision International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine — 11-12/2013 — www.TELE-audiovision.com www.TELE-audiovision.com — 11-12/2013 — TELE-audiovision International — 全球发行量最大的数字电视杂志 193
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Two Million Connections with GlobalInvacomâs FibreIRS