Panel: Beyond Copper: Fibre, Hollow Core & What's Next#
Capacity Europe 2026 digest Program Core pick 12–15 October 2026
Christoph Glingener (CEO, ADTRAN), Danny Preston (Co-founder & CEO, Network Planning Solutions), Jussi Tolvanen (CEO, DNA), Colin Bannon (CTO BT Business, BT), Lee Myall (CEO, Neos Networks), Daniel Rowan (Independent)
- Why: Hollow-core fibre is the most consequential optical-physical-layer development on the horizon for anyone working DC interconnects — ultra-low latency and nonlinearity advantages that matter for sync-sensitive workloads (including distributed training). This is the only session at the event engaging with it.
- What: A panel on what European operators invest in next as copper is retired: fibre expansion, migration strategy, and next-generation physical media including hollow-core fibre and advanced optical networks (from abstract only).
- How: Not a single technique — a strategy discussion spanning copper-switch-off migration economics, fibre modernisation, and emerging fibre types. Expect the hollow-core discussion to be at the roadmap/adoption level, not waveguide physics.
- Where applicable: Broadly applicable to European access and core networks; the PM's interest is specifically in whether hollow core reaches DCI and long-haul routes. Panel composition (mostly CEOs/CTOs of operators and vendors) signals strategy, not implementation detail.