Adtran has unveiled its plans to add NG-PON2 capabilities to its broadband product portfolio. The upcoming product release will use the latest 10G per wavelength symmetric ITU/FSAN standard-based technology on a single, common architecture that supports both residential and business applications.
Describing it as “an industry breakthrough in the economics of delivering fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) services", Adtran says its NG-PON2 implementation will speed up the deployment of the next generation of broadband access equipment that would be otherwise delayed because of the higher cost points of more advanced technology.
The high cost of 10G optical components today is the limiting factor in making NG-PON2 a reality, especially in the highly competitive, mass market of residential services delivery, Adtran asserts. Therefore, it has developed a flexible optics approach to NG-PON2, which allows the service provider to align the cost of the optics with the target applications, starting with low-cost symmetric 10G deployment options and growing to multi-wavelength TWDM capabilities.
The new architecture will support time- and wavelength-division multiplexed (TWDM) PON as well as 10 Gigabit GPON, TWDM-PON, point-to-point DWDM, and 10 Gigabit EPON.
Upgrading FTTP networks to 10G-capable NG-PON2 will provide network operators with the performance to extend the life of their network. Adtran says its traffic engineering studies show that NG-PON2 can double the life of a FTTP network used for converged gigabit residential and business services while providing an architecture that also supports cost-effective 10G business and backhaul service delivery.
“Adtran’s NG-PON2 implementation has the potential to advance the adoption of 10G FTTP for residential markets by three to five years, while its increased capacity will double the life of the network,” said Jeff Heynen, research director for broadband access and pay TV at Infonetics Research, now part of IHS. “NG-PON2’s initial rollout was thought to primarily benefit premium business and backhaul services because of its much higher cost over GPON FTTP solutions. Adtran will dramatically change this dynamic, delivering 10G NG-PON2 solutions at costs approaching today’s volume-priced 2.5G GPON. This allows service providers to affordably scale next-generation PON deployments and provide flexibility without compromising future capabilities.”
To optimise the service agility promise of NG-PON2, Adtran’s upcoming product release will also support provisioning through modern, open APIs, facilitating deployment using next-generation software defined networking (SDN)-based management systems.
The new architecture is currently available for demonstration and will begin field trials in the third quarter of this year.