Optical access equipment specialist Adtran has expanded its software-defined access (SD-Access) portfolio with an environmentally sealed and compact 10G-EPON virtual remote optical line terminal (R-OLT) unit.
Aimed at cable operators looking to upgrade their networks with fibre to the home and distributed access architectures (DAA), these new elements make it possible for them to implement the latest technologies, while seamlessly integrating into their existing DOCSIS back office provisioning and operational systems.
“Now, more than ever before, the network impact of supporting more bandwidth is demanding service providers make a significant architectural shift,” said Rupert Wood, research director at Analysys Mason. “Distributed, Remote-OLT access architectures, by moving FTTH electronics into the outside plant, afford the operator a network that can support much higher access speeds and subscriber capacity while also alleviating head end space congestion.”
Traditional FTTH network growth required cable operators to overcome capital, operational and regulatory hurdles, while requiring time-consuming and costly permits for adding new fibre from the headend, which slowed their ability to turn up services in a timely fashion. DAA and R-OLTs alleviate many of these issues.
The new products combine three critical capabilities – DOCSIS provisioning of EPON (DPoE), software-defined networking integration and remote outside plant packaging – that will be required to capitalise on evolving DDA deployments. Furthermore, Adtran R-OLTs integrate its field-proven DPoE management methods and Layer 3 functionality, like provisioning and routing, running on specialised components.
Adtran says its R-OLTs bridge the management horizon with support for both DPoE management and modern SDN control protocols allowing operators to manage their transition to SD-Access service architectures. Adtran’s 9504N R-OLT seamlessly integrates into existing DPoE systems, while the new SDX 6210-4 virtual R-OLT supports the ability to shift costly Layer 3 processing from the provider edge to the access network.
When Layer 3 and other functionality is virtualised, it will enable additional cost reductions as the R-OLT architecture is simplified further, according to Adtran. This will result in a paradigm shift in price and industry-leading low power consumption for Remote-OLTs, the company claims.