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44 I ICT TODAY Increased East-West traffic has led to a 180-degree change in data center design. When most people think about 5G, they think about the millimeter wave—the band of radio frequencies between 30 GHz and 300 GHz that is well suited to 5G—but many of these technologies are not deploying yet. Furthermore, 5G is anticipated to bring enhanced mobile bandwidth, defined as up to 10G per subscriber. However, in reality, the typical throughput per subscriber is closer to 1 to 2 Gb/s depending on the density, the number of users, and the number of devices trying to access the system at the same time. It is also going to allow 10 to 100 times more devices versus the current model in use. Moreover, 5G will also be used for IoT. Various forecasts predict 40 to 60 billion devices and beyond over the next five years that are going to be tied to the network, thereby requiring a lot more bandwidth and many more physical connections. Because these different devices are tied to the internet at one time, this will require five times the location density. The final aspect is the ultra-low latency that will be required. 5G is going to be an enabler of lower latencies, not because of the millimeter wave technology but because of the potentially hundreds and thousands of micro or edge data centers that are going to be installed everywhere. These edge computing data centers will allow decisions to be made more in real time. To achieve these goals will require the deployment of a large amount of fiber to connect these physical locations together to make IoT and 5G possible. In prep- aration for 5G, the trend is moving toward much higher network densification. For example, in 2017 there were five small cell tower deployments for each macro tower deployment and by 2023 that trend will be 30 small cell deployments for each macro cell deployment—all connected by optical fiber. Hand in hand with this densification will be the use of concealment technologies. This is because the millimeter waves do not travel very far. They get absorbed very quickly into the air. Cities will need to install radios and antennas, mostly located in the form of light poles and streetlights. Not only will these poles include more efficient LED lights, but they will also have 5G radios, small cells, and Wi-Fi capabilities. Some will even have charging stations built into them so people with electric cars can drive up to these light poles and plug into them in order to charge. Optical fiber will be feeding all these technologies in a concealed format. CONCLUSION As a multitude of devices are connected, expected to work faster, all the while requiring 24/7 reliability, the need for more optical fiber, more capacity, and higher speeds will continue to accelerate. Therefore, the need for more optical fiber will continue across all market segments—submarine cables, long-haul, metro, access, edge, and traditional data centers. There are so many options now for moving forward. Part of the challenge is picking the approach that works best for a specific appli- cation. It took 35 years to develop the speeds and capacity to move from 10M to 100G, and then in just 18 months an additional six speeds were added, indicating that the rate of change has accelerated exponentially. Everything points to a more fiber centric deployment. The need for multi-gigabit and terabit speeds, lower latencies, and extended reach will continue to move optical fiber farther into the networks. Therefore, fiber is not just the future. Fiber is the now. And it is going to continue to be more and more of the now as technology moves forward. This article was written on behalf of the Fiber Optics Technology Consortium (FOTC). AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES: Zoren Bullock is the multimode optical fiber product line manager for Corning Incorporated. His work experience with Corning has spanned 15 years with roles in commercial and engineering for optical and photonic material product lines. Zoren holds an MBA from Syracuse University and BS engineering degree in electro-mechanical engineering. He can be reached at bullockzd@corning.com.