Broadband

Verizon Demonstrates NG-PON2 OLT Interoperability

Jan. 11, 2017

Verizon, which is currently deciding whether to buy NG-PON2 optical line terminal (OLT) equipment from ADTRAN, an Ericsson/Calix team or both, says it has successfully demonstrated that it can get equipment from the two competitors, as well as customer premises equipment in reference design form, to interoperate.

Stephen Hardy

Verizon to expand upstate NY rural broadband

Verizon, which is currently deciding whether to buy NG-PON2 optical line terminal (OLT) equipment from ADTRAN, an Ericsson/Calix team or both (see "Verizon narrows NG-PON2 vendor list ahead of 2017 deployments"), says it has successfully demonstrated that it can get equipment from the two competitors, as well as customer premises equipment in reference design form, to interoperate.

NG-PON2 is a follow on of GPON that supports multiple wavelengths of symmetrical 10-Gbps transmission over the same fiber. Initial deployments likely will feature four such wavelengths, for a per-fiber capacity of 40 Gbps. Eight-wavelength deployments also have been discussed.

Verizon, in evaluating the technology ADTRAN and Ericsson/Calix have supplied, wants to be sure that it can deploy whichever OLT it wants, wherever it wants, including mixing OLTs from different suppliers in the same market if necessary.

The trial saw OLTs from both supplier camps interact with reference design optical network terminal (ONT) CPE. Chip vendors Broadcom and Cortina Access supplied the two reference design ONTs, which featured the tunable transceivers that will enable Verizon to change the wavelengths serving a particular subscriber or service area without having to change ONTs. The test plans followed Verizon's Open OMCI specifications designed to define the OLT-to-ONT interface. Verizon plans to make the specifications public in the near future.

Verizon also was able to demonstrate that OLTs from the two suppliers will interoperate as well.

Deployment plans are thought to focus initially on business services support. However, NG-PON2 also can support residential services.

Speaking yesterday with BTR, Dr. Denis Khotimsky, Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff and Verizon's lead engineer on the trial, declined to speculate when Verizon would finalize vendor selection as well as when deployments might begin.

About the Author

Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director & Associate Publisher

Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.

Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.

He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, DOCSIS technology, and more.