Huawei discussed the development of symmetrical 25-Gbps PON technology at its recent Huawei Analyst Summit in Shenzhen. The company also called for creation of unified PON standards that would bridge the GPON and EPON worlds.
In the talk, the Huawei spokesperson described the benefits of 25-Gbps wavelengths as a building block toward multi-wavelength PONs. The approach could leverage technologies now coming to market for 25-Gbps data center applications, as was the case with the original EPON systems. The company also says that "re-applying" 10G PON standards for the upstream 25G wavelengths would ensure compatibility with existing 10G PON terminals. It also would enable reuse of existing optical distribution network (ODN) infrastructure. Huawei has created a prototype 25G PON system based on its existing MA5800 optical line terminal (OLT) platform.
The speaker noted that several operators, including China Telecom, have called for such standards bodies as the ITU-T, IEEE, and Broadband Forum to collaborate on joint PON standards. The IEEE has begun standardization work on symmetrical 25-Gbps EPON wavelengths as elements of a next-generation multi-wavelength EPON specification set that could lead to 100G EPON systems (see "IEEE ponders WDM-PON, 25G PON for next generation EPON"). The ITU-T's most recent specifications work for next-generation GPON has focused on 10-Gbps wavelengths (see "ITU-T approves XGS-PON, amends NG-PON2 specifications").
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