ZTE Corp. (0763.HK/000063.SZ) has unveiled a distribution point unit (DPU) that offers unified management and service provisioning for hybrid fiber to the home (FTTH) and fiber to the distribution point (FTTdp) networks.
FTTdp is the most commonly discussed architecture for the deployment of G.fast, a technology that aims to support gigabit broadband delivery via twisted-pair or coax customer connections. As the name of the architecture implies, the network operator would deploy fiber as close as necessary to the customer premises (which potentially includes into the building for multiple-dwelling unit applications), where a DPU would provide the optical to electrical conversion as the transition point to the existing copper infrastructure.
The fiber connection to the DPU could operate as part of a PON infrastructure, which would lend itself to operating FTTH and FTTdp out of the same optical line terminal (OLT). ZTE says its DPU lessens some of the complexities such a hybrid approach would imply. Using software-defined networking (SDN) and other technologies, ZTE says it has simplified the DPU by extracting the packet forwarding, traffic classification, traffic control, quality of service (QoS), and virtual LAN (VLAN) tagging functions for the device. The OLT is specified as the control point for the access domain. The OLT also becomes the interface for SDN deployment as well as the gateway for open network and data traffic control. The ZTE approach results in unified management and service provisioning, the company says.
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