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In the current paper a demonstration network utilizing multicore hole-assisted fiber and a photonic fan-out/in components is presented. The demonstration network is intended to provide a testbed, which as closely as possible approximates the real-life telecommunication networks deployment scenarios and permits assessing the manufacturing and installation techniques required for commercialization of multicore fiber-based networks. Therefore, an extensive optimization of the multicore fiber splicing process has been performed, including analysis of any misalignments that may occur, influencing the insertion loss. The fan-out/in components will also form a crucial part of any real-life multicore fiber network, as they allow interconnecting with the predominant standard single mode fibers, therefore the development process of these components is also discussed. The most likely deployment scenarios for multicore fibers (considering their, at least initially, significantly higher cost) will be in space-sensitive applications, so a microcable (for jet-blowing into microducts) containing the multicore fiber has been developed. Finally, all of the above components, combined with some more traditional infrastructure elements have been used to build a fully functional demonstration access network.
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