Fujitsu debuts 10G EPON

Fujitsu Network Communications used SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2015 in New Orleans October 14-16 to unveil the A100, a 10G EPON optical line terminal (OLT) that conforms to DOCSIS Provisioning of EPON (DPoE) specifications. The 1RU platform is part of Fujitsu's new 1FINITY disaggregated optical communications suite (see "Fujitsu targets data center interconnect with first 1FINITY optical transport platform"). The company also displayed other elements of the 1FINITY family, including platforms not yet announced.

The A100 features eight downstream ports per unit, equipped with XFP optical transceivers. The OLT accommodates four 40-Gbps QSFP+ optical modules for upstream. The upstream port configuration improves the A100's flexibility, according to Fujitsu's Joseph Mocerino, packet-ONP strategy, and Bill Beesley, principal solutions architect, solutions planning. For example, an A100 could be used as an uplink aggregator of traffic from other A100 OLTs to minimize router slot requirements and groom traffic, they said.

The 1RU platform more efficiently supports typical applications such as 8:1 oversubscription than common chassis-based OLTs, particularly as it avoid stranded chassis capacity, the Fujitsu sources said.

To meet DPoE requirements, the 10G EPON OLT incorporates routing capabilities itself. The routing capabilities are virtualized; while they come incorporated in the platform, an operator can host them remotely on a server if desired.

The system on display was a prototype, Mocerino and Beesley said. The company expects to make the A100 generally available during the first quarter of next year. However, Mocerino said there are two VIP North American customers for whom Fujitsu is working diligently to deliver production systems sooner. Mocerino declined to divulge these customers' names.

Meanwhile, the company also displayed prototypes of additional 1FINITY platforms. These included the T200, an upgrade of the previously announced T100 data center interconnect platform that adds support of multiple optical modulation formats, as well as the L100 wavelength transport platform. Two L100 1RU platforms can be combined to create a 2 degree, 32-channel colorless/directionless/contentionless/flexible-grid ROADM, the Fujitsu sources said. The display also featured the S100 optical switching platform.

Fujitsu has targeted the first quarter of 2016 for general availability of these new 1FINITY platforms as well.

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