There is hardly any other sector but information technology/telecommunications where our society’s rapid development has become so drastically visible. The urge and necessity to network economies, research and teaching increasingly encroaches upon our private sphere – though many won’t realise it yet. In many countries, the course for a gigabit society has already been set, thanks to government or state funding programmes. Discourses on autonomous driving cars, trucks or trains, or on the introduction of the 5G mobile radio standard, advance the expansion of networks for much greater bandwidths even further.

Behind all these necessary requirements and even visions stands the claim for installation of a high-performance fiber optic network. Every single one of those thousands and thousands of mobile communication antennas needs a fibre optic connection. Fibre optic networks are thus far from finished with the completion of FTTH. On the following pages, Vetter provides an answer for the development of the installation technology of fibre optic cables to the mentioned demands of the future. Two key technical issues should be mentioned here:

• Introduction of automated blowing technology with integrated, electronic blowing data storage 
• Building network technology: qualitative and economical cable blowing inside the building, also referred to as Network Level 4 and 5, especially in view of the new European requirements relating to fire safety as of 1 January 2017.