Q&A with James DeCoe: NOVUX Fiber Deployment Portfolio

Arria Giulan caught up with CommScope vice president and Network Connectivity segment leader James DeCoe to dig deeper and find out exactly how NOVUX will be changing fiber deployments for CommScope customers around the world. Read her latest blog.

NOVUX_PortfolioImages_PressReleaseRecently, CommScope launched the industry’s first modular, end-to-end FTTX portfolio to assist global operators with the quick and efficient deployment of fiber networks. We caught up with CommScope vice president and Network Connectivity segment leader James DeCoe to dig deeper and find out exactly how NOVUX will be changing fiber deployments for CommScope customers around the world.

What’s the idea behind NOVUX? Why launch now? 

We’ve had NOVUX in the works for some time. The idea behind the portfolio is respond directly to the feedback and opportunities we’re seeing with our customers and their plans for fiber deployment. Our fiber technology evolves constantly, and our ongoing communication with customers allows us to gain unique insights as a trusted advisor and to apply them as technology leader.

NOVUX is a new way of responding to our customer’s needs for greater bandwidth, faster deployments, and deeper fiber. These challenges have grown more and more complex, so for the last few years, we’ve fully committed a global R&D group to designing this new, modular common architecture, using fast prototyping techniques and hundreds of hours of testing within networks around the world. We have some of the best people in the business—from our engineers to our PLM and marketing teams—and this really shows with the innovation we’re showcasing with NOVUX.

We also have an unmatched legacy in fiber. For the last 40 years, our fiber closures and terminals have been deployed in all major networks around the world, and we’ve drawn on that expertise alongside our customers’ feedback to make the NOVUX closures and terminals a truly best-of-breed portfolio. We’re starting with the Hardened Terminals, Compact Closures, and Specialty Closures and will be releasing new additions to this portfolio over the next few years.

How is NOVUX going to change fiber deployments? 

NOVUX gives operators a new range of solutions for accelerating and scaling fiber deployments, simply and sustainably.

The system simplifies deployment by allowing operators to use 75% fewer components than existing solutions while delivering 50 times the number of configurations available today. This means more applications can be served from one common platform with the widest variety of technologies available—single fiber, multi-fiver, WDM, fiber indexing, fiber optical tap—in a variety cable sizes and types.

Configuration changes that in the past could only be done over multiple weeks and site visits can now be achieved in a few hours and with our optimized global supply chain, capacity can be easily scaled up as needed.

NOVUX features some truly innovative technologies like our Prodigy hardened connectivity and Octopus™ sealing gel, which offers protection in harsh environments while accepting more cable variation and allowing easy access for upgrades and regular maintenance. We just published a blog about the world of difference the right sealing system can make.

Finally, we designed NOVUX with sustainable practices for packaging, labeling, and installation equipment. It uses digital installation instructions and videos easily accessed via QR code and CommScope’s cTRACK app.

What makes CommScope and NOVUX different from the competition?

The NOVUX FTTX system is currently the only end-to-end platform, modularly designed with products for trunk, feeder, distribution, and drop fiber networks

Our leading team of fiber experts and engineers built NOVUX from the ground up to be a completely new FTTX system architecture and complete ecosystem. And this first series of closures and terminals span the outside plant fiber network—from the trunk and feeder to the distribution and drop.

As I mentioned earlier, its modular architecture makes its components and accessories easily configurable to match each unique application and they’re available in high volumes to meet demand. NOVUX allows operators to use fewer components than existing products while delivering many more configurations than are available today—all while simplifying installer training and reducing field errors. That’s a huge advantage for global operators.

With NOVUX, we’re really leveraging CommScope’s expertise, innovation, and scale to bring our customers and their networks into the future. Our commitment to our customers means we use their direct feedback to help guide strategic decisions about our solutions and to ensure that every connection and cable is a revenue stream for their business. NOVUX is a great example of that.

I’d like to thank our incredible team here at CommScope for putting so much into NOVUX and for continuing to advance the state of our industry.

For more information, please visit our NOVUX product page.

Additional Resources:

NOVUX SEC Closures

NOVUX SRC Closures

NOVUX Compact Closures

NOVUX Hardened Terminals