OCTOBER 2, 2007 � Standards development and technical planning organization ATIS (search for ATIS) has formed an Optical Access Network Subcommittee (OAN) to develop and maintain standards, implementation agreements, and technical reports for systems and associated interfaces for optical access to telecommunications networks such as GPONs. OAN will serve as a subcommittee to the ATIS Network Interface, Power, and Protection Committee (NIPP).
OAN was created to advance work on optical access interfaces and systems recommendations made in the Optical Access Networks Assessment and Work Plan recently completed by the ATIS Optical Access Networks Focus Group. The report aimed to create a comprehensive analysis of GPON-based optical access systems and specifications. It offers an assessment of the processes as well as standards and specifications that the ATIS group said needed to be defined and/or refined to enable successful deployment of GPON technology in North America.
"The formation of this new subcommittee fills a critical link and provides the opportunity for service providers and vendors to have important input into both domestic and international standards in the area of GPON," said Rick Townsend, distinguished member of technical staff, Alcatel-Lucent, and chairman of the NIPP.
OAN's work will focus on physical and transmission convergence layer functionality and will include higher-layer functionality such as equipment management, traffic management, and system-level issues related to optical access networking equipment. The subcommittee will be asked to develop and maintain standards and technical reports for systems and associated interfaces for transmission services providing optical access to telecommunications networks. It will make recommendations on related subjects for publication and collaboration with other U.S. and international standards bodies.
"The formation of OAN will allow the industry's leading service providers and manufacturers to undertake critical GPON standards and specifications work," says Susan Miller, president and CEO of ATIS. "We invite all stakeholder companies to participate in our effort in making true system-level interoperability for GPON a reality."
The chair of the new NIPP-OAN subcommittee is Richard Goodson, senior staff scientist, Adtran. Dr. Frank Effenberger, director, FTTX, Huawei Technologies, is vice chair. For information on having your organization be part of the forefront work of the new subcommittee contact Veronica Lancaster, ATIS manager of standards development, at [email protected] or via telephone at (202) 434-8826.
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