FlexLight Networks, (Atlanta, GA) the optical access provider, announced general availability of its Optimate product suite - the industry's first Gigabit passive optical network (GPON) product that is fully compliant with the ITU's standards for GPON, newly announced by the ITU on January 31, 2003. Optimate is shipping today and is currently involved in major trials with customers in Europe and Asia.
The two new GPON standards are known as ITU-T Recommendations G.984.1 and G.984.2. G.984.1 is the standard for the general characteristics of GPON systems, such as architecture, bit rates, reach and security, while G.984.2 specifies speeds of up to 2.5 Gbits/sec - at least twice the speed of previous standards.
"Next generation PON is critical for hitting the new price points and functionality required by service providers," says Daniel Briere, chief executive officer of telecom analyst firm, TeleChoice Inc. "As approved, the GPON technology will enable carriers to provide a range of high bandwidth applications, such as video services, high-speed Internet access, and multimedia applications � and make money in doing so in the near- to mid-term."
Optimate readily addresses the service providers' needs for economical and reliable voice and data access over a single fiber access facility. It offers the benefits of high-speed data over PON as well as offering the DS-1 quality-of-service voice customers expect from TDM services and private line tariffs.
Optimate accepts and carries Fast Ethernet (10/100 Mbps) and T1/E1 circuits from each customer location over the FlexLight PON access network in their native format, without the additional overhead and complexity associated with other access technologies. Furthermore, Optimate supports virtual LAN switching and other emerging Ethernet services critical to new data revenue streams of the carriers.
The Optimate product provisions T1/E1 and Fast Ethernet services to each tenant in a building, and grooms these services back to the central office for hand-off on an OC-3/STM-1 or Gigabit Ethernet facility to the metro equipment. Protocol conversions or replacement of installed equipment are completely avoided.
The solution serves a large-scale area, through the use of enhanced optics and passive optical components. This allows maximum network cost savings, which is achieved without requiring dedicated fibers to be laid for each customer premise.
Optimate also supports full redundancy on the PON network, allowing the broadband access network to immediately recover from fiber cuts or other outages in the fiber plant. This SONET-like recovery feature is crucial to today's service providers.