Exhibitor Press Releases

3/25/2010

Fiber-to-the-Home Council to Offer Professional Certification Program to Support Growing Need for FTTH Professionals

(WASHINGTON, DC) - The Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council - a non-profit organization of more than 200 companies and organizations dedicated to expanding the deployment of all-fiber, next-generation networks - has announced that it is developing the first-ever certification program aimed specifically at professionals who design, administer, and manage FTTH systems.

The announcement was made at OFC/NFOEC, the world's leading international conference for optical communications and networking professionals, which is underway this week in San Diego, CA.

The Certified Fiber to the Home Professional (CFHP) program, to be launched later this year will consist of a special curriculum and examination program to determine and certify competence in FTTH design, architecture, deployment and administration technologies.

The Council will serve as the sponsor and operator of the certification and testing platforms. The program is aimed at accomplished professionals who wish to obtain industry certification of their skills, as well as to those who wish to upgrade their skills and knowledge in order to achieve the certification. For the latter group, the Council is partnering with one of its members, The Light Brigade - a company that has 30 years of fiber optic training expertise - to develop a curriculum and study materials to support the certification program.

The course and the certification examination will address topics critical to the FTTH design and planning, including physical network architecture services (triple play) and topologies, the impact of bandwidth on FTTH system, standards and building codes, Ethernet networks, and future migration considerations. Also covered will be video systems, such as RF video versus IPTV, compression techniques, and RFOG and return paths.

The program is intended to certify competence in overall FTTH theory, terminology, topology, equipment and system cost estimation, and is not intended to involve competency in a particular vendor's equipment.

"The need for this kind of program has arisen because of the rapidly growing number of telecommunications providers that are now planning or building fiber to the home networks," said Joe Savage, President of the FTTH Council. "It makes sense for our organization to establish a credible certification program for those individuals who are going to be building North America's next generation networks. And we are delighted that The Light Brigade is going to contribute its expertise in fiber optic training to make this happen."

Anyone interested in receiving an email notification may sign up at the FTTH Council website, clicking on "sign up for our newsletter" and following the instructions for receiving information about the CFHP program.

About the Fiber-to-the-Home Council

Now in its ninth year, the Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council is a non-profit association consisting of companies and organizations that deliver video, Internet and/or voice services over high-bandwidth, next-generation, direct fiber optic connections - as well as those involved in planning and building FTTH networks. The Council works to create a cohesive group to share knowledge and build industry consensus on key issues surrounding fiber to the home. Its mission is to educate the public and government officials about FTTH solutions and to promote and accelerate deployment of fiber to the home and the resulting quality of life enhancements such networks make possible. The Council organizes North America's largest annual FTTH event, the FTTH Conference & Expo, to be held September 12 - 16, 2010 in Las Vegas. More information about the Council can be found at www.ftthcouncil.org.

Media Contact:

David St. John
Media Relations
FTTH Council
315.849.3800
media@ftthcouncil.org