TECHNICAL
Discovering the truth behind PON Interoperability and compatibility
by Raymond Hagen
locked out of options to purchase optics of equal or better quality, at lower prices.
The market for optical transceivers is very competitive and ProLabs believes that the customer should benefit from having the choice to purchase optics from whomever they please. Sometimes ProLabs receives feedback from our customers that a network equipment manufacturer’s sales representative has threatened a warranty or support of a system if third-party transceivers are installed. ProLabs has debunked the myth that OEMs can legally void the equipment warranties by using third-party optics. Additional feedback indicates tactics used by OEMs to strong-arm customers into using their optics through long-term purchase agreements tied to a large project or by tying the purchase of OEM optics to government-funded financing bills of material. These tactics often leave customers disappointed with their chosen OEM platform, as they are effectively
Third-party PON transceivers, just like OEM PON transceivers, operate at layer 1. When installed in the OLT host card, the system reads the EEPROM memory to recognise the optic. Once the optic is recognised, the host system monitors the digital diagnostics provided by the transceiver. Information such as temperature, wavelengths and data rates are passed on to the host system. Beyond those basic functions, PON transceivers are “dumb.” They simply pass the data through the system. Third-party transceiver suppliers, like ProLabs, warranty the compatibility of their optics with the host platform to operate as the switch expects from day one through end of product life.
White Paper 92
Volume 47 No.1 MARCH 2025
100G beyond 10km
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