ANA PESOVIC PON NETWORKS
THE NEED FOR SPEED... ...or how innovation and instant gratification drive demand for multi-gigabit networks
W hile current fibre technology such foreseeable future, operators are seeing the benefit of providing multi-gigabit speeds. On one side, this is driven by the opportunity to converge residential, high revenue generating business services and mobile transport onto one network and accelerate return on investment. For example, research by Nokia shows that introduction of next generation as GPON (2.5Gbps down/1.25Gbps up) can satisfy residential demand for the technologies like XGS-PON could result in 25% shorter payback time of a fibre network. Additionally, the rise of next-wave video and messaging services, virtual reality and other high bandwidth applications are pushing network operators to address the rapidly rising bandwidth usage in residential and business subscriber bases. Here, NG-PON can provide operators with the ability to meet these needs, o ering high-speed, symmetrical services that make the most of fibre’s potential and help equip their network to meet future needs. Next generation PON technologies such as XGS-PON deliver significantly more capacity than GPON for a minimal cost while others such as TWDM-PON can provide the additional scale and flexibility needed to meet future needs.
To investigate the factors driving operators to consider deploying next-generation passive optical networks, Matthew Peach interviewed Ana Pesovic, head of fibre marketing at Nokia.
ANA PESOVIC
NG PON TYPES There are three next generation PON solutions available. These include XG-PON1, XGS-PON and TWDM-PON, however XGS-PON seems to be gaining the most market traction, thanks to its cost-e ciency, dual rate flexibility and graceful migration path. XGS-PON (X=10, G=Gigabit, S=symmetrical PON) supports dual rate transmission, which enables operators to deliver symmetrical or asymmetrical bit rates (10/2.5 and 10/10 Gb/s). This allows 10/10G and 10/2.5G optical network units (ONU) to be connected on the same XGS-PON port in the access node. XGS-PON has a similar cost to XG-PON1, but delivers more benefits: four times more upstream bandwidth, possibility to connect also XG-PON1 ONUs if needed, and a more graceful migration path. For these reasons, XGS-PON is considered superior to XG-PON1 and is becoming a preferred choice for operators looking to evolve their network. TWDM-PON (Time WDM) is the most
advanced and sophisticated of all NG-PON technologies. It adds more wavelengths on the fibre (initially 4 in upstream and 4 in downstream, with more possible in the future). TWDM-PON supports flexible bitrate configurations (2.5/2.5G, 10/2.5G, and 10/10G) and uses tunable lasers that allow operators to dynamically assign and change the wavelength on which a customer is connected. As with any new technology, the cost of tunable lasers is still high. But as innovations improve the technology and volumes increase, the cost of TWDM-PON will come down. NOT ONLY SPEED While providing faster speeds and more capacity to end-users is one of the many benefits of NG-PON, it’s not the only reason operators are looking to implement the technology. For instance, in the era of 5G, which will have up to ten times more radio cells than current mobile environments, operators must ensure they have access to the capacity, latency and scale required to support the backhaul of 5G. By using the fibre access networks that are currently deployed, in conjunction with next-generation PON technologies, operators can meet these requirements in the most cost e cient way. According to an analysis conducted by Nokia Bell Labs, existing fixed networks can reduce the cost of backhaul by as much as 50 percent and eliminate the need for a dedicated network. With TWDM-PON, other capabilities such as wavelength unbundling and wavelength mobility are also available to operators, both of which can e ectively change the economics of fibre networks. Wavelength unbundling features can help network providers secure additional revenue from wholesale opportunities, reduce business risk through network infrastructure co-investment, accelerate fibre deployments, and reduce overall costs.
Nokia’s universal next-generation PON approach and its XGS/TWDM-PON technology.
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| ISSUE 9 | Q2 2017
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