Verizon has completed a test of a 10 Gbps technology on its fiber-to-the-premises network.
Field testing of the NG-PON2 technology was completed recently from Verizon’s central office in Framingham, Mass., to a FiOS customer’s home 3 miles away as well as to a nearby business location. This followed extensive testing in Verizon’s laboratories in Waltham, Mass.
A new optical line terminal (OLT) installed in the Verizon central office generated four wavelengths, each capable of operating at 10G/2.5G. Later versions are envisioned to support the same download and upload speeds of 10G/10G per color. One test transmitted the NG-PON2 signals over a fiber serving live GPON customers proving that the network can simultaneously deliver GPON and NG-PON2 on the same fiber. The trial was conducted with a NG-PON2 equipment system from Cisco and PT Inovação. The technology will have the system capacity to grow to 40-80 Gbps as the market demands.
Verizon said upgrades on its FTTP network will begin when commercial equipment is available to support business services such as switched Ethernet services. The company plans to issue a request for proposals later this year for the purchase of hardware and software for the new NG-PON2 platform.
“The advantage of our FiOS network is that it can be upgraded easily by adding electronics onto the fiber network that is already in place,” said Lee Hicks, vice president of network technology for Verizon. “Deploying this exciting new technology sets a new standard for the broadband industry and further validates our strategic choice of fiber-to-the-premises.”
