CommScope (NASDAQ: COMM) will use next week's Internet and Television Expo (INTX) in Chicago to unveil a 10G EPON optical line terminal (OLT). Based on DOCSIS Provisioning of EPON (DPoE), the C9516 EPON OLT appears shortly after Comcast first announced its plans for symmetrical 2-Gbps services via fiber to the home (FTTH; see "A Look at Comcast's Gigabit Pro").
Coincidence? Perhaps not.
The C9516 OLT supports both 1G and 10G EPON in a temperature-hardened platform. CommScope asserts the new platform is the first to combine high-temperature operation with 10G EPON DPoE capabilities.
Comcast's 2-Gbps FTTH deployment would appear to be a natural for the C9516. While the operator has declined to discuss the technology behind its high-speed broadband roll out, 10G PON is the most likely candidate, observers have told BTR. Conventional GPON and EPON would not support the 2 Gbps upstream that Comcast says it will offer.
So is CommScope supplying – or does it at least hope to supply – the C9516 OLT to Comcast? CommScope Corporate Communications Manager Joe Depa said via email that it was against corporate policy to discuss customers without their permission. However, the new OLT is in limited availability, with production underway, he wrote. General availability should occur in June.
"The solution is presently being tested by our customers," he added.
CommScope has competition, however, from the likes of Sumitomo Electric and Alcatel-Lucent (see "Sumitomo Electric Brings 10G-EPON to the States" and "Alcatel-Lucent Aims for Gigabit Plus").