As data center providers scale across geographies, the desire to achieve efficiencies is being met by leveraging PON technology. 

While still a mainstay for fiber-based consumer and business broadband, bringing PON into the data center allows data center operators to replace copper wiring and active aggregation switches with a passive optical distribution network.

One of the key advantages of PON in a data center is that it can be used for out-of-band management (OOBM), which is a way to manage data center devices using a dedicated fiber network and PON. OOBM uses a separate network for remote access and control of data center devices (servers, storage, etc.) via management (Ethernet) and/or console ports.

PON-based OOBM is unlike traditional OOBM architecture, which depends on dedicated per-rack switches, adding complexity while increasing power and cooling demands.

“PON technologies are increasingly moving from traditional residential networks to enterprise and data center applications, providing additional growth opportunities for PON equipment providers,” said Jeff Heynen, VP of Broadband Access and Home Networking market research at Dell’Oro Group.

He added that a wide range of hyperscalers and enterprises are “increasingly deploying PON technologies for passive fiber distribution that is lower cost and that maintains its value far longer than traditional copper infrastructure.”

Gary Smith, CEO of Ciena, told investors during its fiscal second quarter 2026 earnings call that it is seeing growing demand from the data center community for its PON-based DCOM solution.  

“DCOM is ramping extremely well, which contributed to the 88% year-on-year revenue growth in our Routing and Switching segment,” he said.

Smith added that it is also expanding its customer base. “In addition to Meta, we've received initial orders from a second hyperscaler customer, and lab qualifications are progressing well with a third hyperscaler customer,” he said.  

Likewise, Nokia is seeing similar interest in its PON-based OOBM platform. While it has not publicly announced any customers yet, Nokia announced in March that it expanded its OOBM portfolio with Aurelis for Data Centers.

Consisting of the Aurelis Optical Modems (ONT) and the Aurelis MF Optical Switch (OLT), Nokia claims its platform can reduce “the number of active switches by 90%, the solution improves space efficiency, delivers 50% or more power savings and simplifies operational effort by 80%.”       

But not every optical vendor that serves data centers is on board the PON OOBM train.

Ekinops, which is also ramping up its presence in the data center market as an alternative optical source, is not providing PON-based OOBM. Instead, the company’s Ekinops360 optical platforms support out-of-band and remote management via standard interfaces.

Enterprise PON, FTTR ramping

PON is not just about data centers.

Dell’Oro also expects PON deployments to continue to find utility in enterprises and for fiber-to-the-room (FTTR).

The research firm said that enterprises will continue to see benefits from PON. Among its benefits is that PON uses unpowered splitters and fiber-optic cables inside a building to connect user devices with lower power and cabling costs than traditional copper networks.

“Enterprises are increasingly deploying Passive Optical LAN (POL) as the long-term benefits of increased speeds and lower operational costs outweigh the costs of deploying fiber in the building,” Dell’Oro said.

Meanwhile, FTTR, a networking technology that extends fiber cables directly into individual rooms of a home or office, is seeing adoption in various geographies. The advantage of FTTR is that it can provide full gigabit speeds with constant connections in every corner of a building like an apartment or condominium.

Fellow research firm GSMA Intelligence noted that as of the fourth quarter of 2025, FTTR is live in 34 markets globally. Out of the 37 largest wireline broadband markets the firm tracks, 13 have launched FTTR. 

However, Dell’Oro noted that China is a key player in the FTTR market. “Chinese operators continue to deploy tens of millions of master and subtended ONTs to deliver fiber-to-the-room (FTTR) services to their residential broadband customers,” Dell’Oro said.

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