Calix Inc. (NYSE: CALX) is the latest company to announce support of VDSL2 vectoring. At the Calix User Conference in Las Vegas, the company unveiled new VDSL2 line cards for two members of its Unified Access portfolio, the E7-2 Ethernet Service Access Platform (ESAP) and the B-Series Ethernet Service Access Nodes (ESANs). The former will receive the vectoring upgrade.
Vectoring is a noise cancellation technology that can extend the bandwidth capacity and reach of VDSL2 networks. It's benefits are most pronounced when paired with pair bonding. Alcatel-Lucent in September announced its intention to provide vectoring support on several ISAM platforms (see "Alcatel-Lucent offers VSDL2 vectoring to support 100-Mbps services"). Other companies, such as Huawei, have similar capabiilties in development.
The new product announcements included:
- Two new Ethernet eXtensible Architecture (EXA) Powered VDSL2 lines cards for the E7-2 ESAP with what Calix asserts are industry-leading density and flexibility. The cards offer support for up to 96 VDSL2 combo ports or 48 overlay ports with support for both bonding and vectoring, two 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) ports, and two ports capable of GbE or 2.5-Gbps service delivery in a two card slot, one rack unit (1RU), modular chassis-based form factor.
- A new VDSL2 combo card for the Calix B-Series ESANs, featuring 48 VDSL combo ports with bonding support and ADSL2+ fallback, as well as four 10 GbE ports for optimal uplink capacity in a 1RU card.
With these additions to the Unified Access portfolio, Calix says it can offer the widest array of advanced DSL products in the market -- from small, fixed-form-factor products to large high-density chassis, and a variety of modular cabinet retrofits and sealed access nodes in between.
The new VDSL2 combo card, the B6-256, is already being deployed widely says Calix, including with longtime B6 customer Rural Telephone/Nex-Tech in rural Kansas. The communications provider is deploying the B6-256 line card to increase subscriber data rates in existing ADSL2+ service areas. VDSL2 services can be rolled out by simply installing the card into existing B6 systems, requiring no additional equipment changes or capital expenditures, Calix says.
"It is critical to the success of our communities and local businesses that they receive the same or better broadband services in rural Kansas as they would in any major city," said Larry Sevier, CEO and general manager at Rural Telephone/Nex-Tech. "By introducing VDSL2 into the Rural Telephone/Nex-Tech network, we are able to easily leverage our existing copper infrastructure to deliver greatly increased broadband capacity to our customers. The B6-256 line card is not only aligned with our service strategy, it continues to validate our long-term investment in the B6 platform."
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