Alcatel-Lucent completes 1-Gbps broadband network in Bristol, TN

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) says it has helped provide fiber-based 1-Gbps broadband service to all 33,000 residential and business electric customers of Bristol Tennessee Essential Services (BTES).

BTES has been a longstanding Alcatel-Lucent customer (see "Tennessee utilities select Alcatel FTTH platform"). Powered by Alcatel-Lucent’s GPON technology, Bristol’s fiber to the premises (FTTP) network will accommodate speeds of up to 1 Gbps, which is 10X faster than the US Federal Communication Commission’s National Broadband Plan calling for 100-Mbps speeds for 100 million households nationwide by 2020.

"Bristol now has one of the fastest, totally built out networks in the United States," said Dr. Michael Browder, CEO of BTES. "To give an example of how fast, you can download about two hours of video or upwards of 200 songs in just six seconds. For our residential customers, that means one person in the household can download a movie, while another is playing an online game, while another is watching an HDTV program – all without slowing down any of the activities. For our business customers, it opens the way for transporting and accessing 'big data,' which is critical for economic development of the area."

Local anchor institutions, such as schools, also will benefit. For example, an elementary school located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains is combining SMART Board Technology and BTES’s gigabit service to offer virtual field trips to learn about other parts of the world. Recently, a class of 20 eight-year-olds 'travelled' to Egypt to learn about the pyramids assisted by their own on-site tour guide.

The FTTP network uses Alcatel-Lucent’s GPON-enabled 7342 ISAM FTTU optical line terminals (OLTs) and optical network terminals (ONTs). BTES’s OLTs connect to a 10-Gbps backbone via Alcatel-Lucent’s 7450 ESS switches and are aggregated through a pair of 7750 BSR routers to 10 Gbps of Internet capacity. BTES’s ONTs are capable of providing advanced IPTV video services along with traditional cable television, telephone, and up to 1 Gbps of Internet bandwidth.

For more information on FTTx/access systems and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer’s Guide.