In our last post, we talked about the growing pains that service providers are feeling these days as consumers connect more devices and perform more bandwidth-intensive activities in the home. 10G PON offers a path to alleviate those challenges. It can be deployed on top of existing GPON fiber networks and makes it possible to implement a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) strategy that is scalable and cost-effective and drives subscriber retention.

In any 10G PON fiber strategy, there are two key implementations to consider: small form-factor pluggable optical network termination (SFP+ ONU) and single family unit (SFU) ONU. Both are key in the upcoming rollout of 10G PON networks and 5G.

10G PON SFU ONUs are important since they are used in many mainstream FTTH deployments as the fiber termination point in a home that connects to the home network gateway via Ethernet. In addition, 10G PON FTTH infrastructures can be leveraged for 5G deployments to connect small cells for backhaul. Also, 5G will require many more small cells and base stations deeper in the network and 10G PON is a cost-effective way to backhaul the intense data traffic that is expected. This allows service providers to use one infrastructure for both fiber and 5G to maximize the value of their investments.

SFP+ ONU plays a crucial role in fiber deployments by providing entire ONU (Mac and PHY) connectivity between the 10G PON optical network and any unit it is plugged into. Such units may be residential gateways, MDUs, DPUs, mobile small cells and base-station equipment.

Gateways offer another valuable application for SFP+ as requalification is not required, the gateway life cycle is extended, and multiple WAN options can be enabled for service upgrades. Plus, the operator’s supplier matrix is simplified, especially in the first phase of fiber rollout when migrating the existing customer base to the new technology.

Intel introduces new 10G PON chipset

To address the opportunity in SFP+ ONU and SFU ONU, Intel is expanding our PON portfolio and introducing the newest high-speed, multimode 10G PON chipset. In fact, if you happen to be attending this year’s Broadband World Forum (BBWF) in Berlin October 23-25, we invite you to check it out in person.

Our new 10G PON chipset offers a low-power, small-footprint design that can be used in a wide range of implementations in both residential and business environments, including SFU, SFP+ ONU, fiber to the distribution point (FTTdp)/multi-dwelling unit (MDU), and 5G base stations. The chipset allows service providers to reuse their existing fiber infrastructure to support today’s network upgrades. The real game changer for this chipset is the embedded 2.5 gigabit Ethernet (GbE) PHY. The integration of 2.5 GbE enables low-power, cost-effective SFUs, providing fast speeds both into and throughout the home.

Here are a few other notable features of the chipset:

It can be used in both ITU and IEEE PON environments. (Think EPON, 10G-EPON, GPON, XG-PON1, XGS-PON, NG-PON2 and active optical Ethernet.)

It is prepared for bidirectional optical subassemblies (BOSA), allowing cost-effective BOSA on board (BoB) ONU designs.

It supports network timing synchronization protocols, such as IEEE 1588v2, synchronous Ethernet or time of day (ToD), providing clock accuracy for 5G/LTE mobile base stations.

It offers embedded VoIP supporting FXS voice ports.

It delivers the necessary quality of service (QoS) and power management, carrier-grade features and hardware OAM, including Y1731, with the highest accuracy.

It includes a dual-core, multithread processor and dedicated packet processing engine so you get both service application flexibility and benchmark performance.

Creating new service—and revenue—opportunities

As greater speed and performance and lower latency are enabled in the home, service providers will be in a perfect position to create a whole new world of possible services. And with those services they will be able to create differentiating user experiences that both delight customers and grow revenue. Join us in Berlin at BBWF and see solutions based on Intel’s new 10G PON with AVM, Cambridge Industries Group (CIG), and Source Photonics.

For additional information, visit https://www.intel.com/telco.