IEEE task force ratifies 10G EPON standard

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009 -- More than 40 companies and organizations that supported or participated in the IEEE P802.3av 10-Gbps Ethernet Passive Optical Network (10G EPON) Task Force are celebrating completion of IEEE Std. 802.3av-2009, also known as "Physical Layer Specifications and Management Parameters for 10 Gb/s Passive Optical Networks."

IEEE Std. 802.3av for 10G EPON and its predecessor, IEEE Std. 802.3ah-2004, are specifications that describe FTTH telecommunications systems.

The IEEE Std. 802.3av 10G EPON standard supports symmetric and asymmetric line-rate operations. The symmetric option operates at 10 Gbps in both the downstream and upstream directions. The asymmetric option, which reflects the fact that IP video services create bandwidth pressure mostly in the downstream direction, uses 10 Gbps downstream and 1 Gbps upstream.

IEEE Std. 802.3ah 1-Gbps EPON (GEPON) systems have been deployed to more than 30 million subscribers worldwide and support diverse services, including IPTV, VoIP, and cellular backhaul. Given the large and accelerating deployment of GEPON systems, says the task force, the IEEE Std. 802.3av enables seamless upgrades via the simultaneous operation of 1-Gbps and 10-Gbps symmetric and asymmetric EPON systems on the same outside plant. This allows operators to introduce 10G EPON without replacing any existing GEPON customer equipment and minimizes the operational impact of upgrading a large, in-service FTTH network.

Initial deployments of the 10G EPON equipment are expected in 2010.

Companies that have expressed their support for the approved standard are Alloptic, Anritsu Co., ARRIS, B-DeltaCom, Bright House Networks, Cambridge Industries Group, China Mobile Communications Corp., China Telecom -- STTRI, China Unicom -- Beijing, Corecess, Cortina Systems, CyOptics, Dasan Networks, Dongwon, Enablence Technologies, ETRI, FiberHome, Fujitsu, H3C, Hisense Broadband, Hitachi, Huawei Technologies, Kawasaki Microelectronics, KDDI R&D, KT, Ligent Photonics, Mitsubishi Electric, NEC, NTT Corp., OF Networks, OneChip Photonics, PMC-Sierra, Shanghai Luster Teraband Photonics Co., Sumitomo Electric, Teknovus, Telekom Malaysia R&D, Ubiquoss, Vitesse Semiconductor, and ZTE.

The China Communications Standards Association (CCSA), the Ethernet Alliance, the Optical Access (FTTx) Industry Alliance (OAIA) of China, and the Taiwan Optical Communication Industry Alliance also endorse the 10G EPON standard.


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