Northeast Nebraska Telephone chooses GPON, Active Ethernet for FTTH upgrade

May 2, 2022
The upgrade came as NNTC’s legacy Active Ethernet elements are reaching end of life and bandwidth trends within its footprint of 30 communities across 24 counties in rural northeast Nebraska have required a pathway to gigabit services.

DZS (Nasdaq: DZSI) says it has assisted Northeast Nebraska Telephone Co. (NNTC) as the service provider upgraded its fiber to the home (FTTH) network with Active Ethernet and GPON capabilities. NNTC’s legacy FTTH network was based on Active Ethernet.

The broadband technology provider says it has supplied NNTC with elements of the DZS Velocity portfolio. The systems include:

  • The DZS Velocity V2 compact remote platform that can support dedicated Active Ethernet, GPON, 10G Active Ethernet, and XGS-PON, including “combo” services on any port.
  • The DZS Velocity V1 GPON OLT system that features eight ports that support both GPON and XGS-PON.

The upgrade came as NNTC’s legacy Active Ethernet elements are reaching end of life and bandwidth trends within its footprint of 30 communities across 24 counties in rural northeast Nebraska have required a pathway to gigabit services now and 10-Gbps capabilities in the future that the old FTTH network wouldn’t support. “As equipment within our existing 100% fiber network was reaching end-of-life, we conducted a lab trial to choose a new vendor, and DZS was the obvious choice for us,” explained Pat McElroy, general manager/CEO at NNTC. “DZS provided a clear upgrade path to voice, video, and data services and an ultra-fast, future-ready systems and software platform that supports our usage-based service model. DZS has also worked closely and effectively with our operational and business staff and with our integration partner, Goldfield Telecom, to ensure a successful cutover to the new service. We are extremely pleased with the reliability, manageability, and cost-effectiveness of the DZS hardware and software to date.”

“DZS is proud to support innovative service and broadband experience providers like NNTC take the capabilities of their FTTH network to a whole new level and bring game-changing gigabit services and usage-based billing to all of its subscribers,” added Andrew Finkelstein, senior vice president, North America sales at DZS. “NNTC has shown itself to be a longtime innovator in the FTTH space and a model for other service providers, and we congratulate them on their recent Smart Rural Community award. The fact that they chose to build the future of their broadband network on DZS is a testament to the reliability, interoperability, and extensibility of our solutions, as well as the expertise and responsiveness of our service team and integration partner Goldfield Telecom.”

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About the Author

Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave

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, and more.

You can connect with Stephen on LinkedIn as well as Twitter.

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