Fiber to the x

(FTTX) refers to several different forms of optical fiber architectures including:

• Fiber-to-the-Node/Neighborhood (FTTN)
• Fiber-to-the-Exchange (FTTEx)
• Fiber-to-the-Cabinet (FTTCab)
• Fiber-to-the-Curb (FTTC)
• Fiber-to-the-Building (FTTB)
• Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) (Fiber-to-the-Premise (FTTP))

The above architectures can all be grouped under the category Fiber-to-the x (FTTX).

Fiber-to-the-premise seen as $3.2 billion U.S. market by 2009. (fiber optics industry) Through an evolving technology (FTTX), is not new. [Fiber-to the-Home (FTTH)] has been available for almost 10 years, and FTTP is viewed as the next logical step in the evolution of the access network. In an FTTP architecture, an [optical fiber] is deployed all the way to the customer’s premise or location; either to the residence (FTTH-fiber Interface Device (NID) is located at the customer premises in the form of an Optical Network Termination (ONT), or Optical Network Unit (ONU). The ONT/ONU terminates the optical access network providing direct connectivity to feature-rich service.

Technologies

The various flavors of PON

The great promise of PON is the ability to relieve bottlenecks in the access network, but there are several different PON standards to consider when planning your network, as well as many different acronyms to help confuse the issue. As PON technologies have evolved over the past two decades, a variety of flavors of pon have emerged.

APON (Asynchronous Transfer Mode PON) The first PON standard was APON, which uses ATM encapsulation of transported data and is aimed primarily at small business applications. Over time, APON was followed by

BPON (Broadband PON)

Currently the most popular for of PON being rolled out today, BPON offers improved and additional features. It is robust network that includes WDM support for video overlay, higher upstream bandwidth and upstream bandwidth allocation.

EPON (Ethernet PON)

Ratified in 2004, EPON is the standard of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Inc. (IEEE) Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM). Running at 1.25 Gbit/s Symmetric, it is highly suitable for data services. EPON uses Ethernet rather than ATM data encapsulation.

GPON (Gigabit PON)

GPON is an IP-based protocol designed for IP traffic and is the standard choice for high-volume FTTP carriers. GPON is often descried as combining the best attributes of BPON and EPON at gigabit rates. It recognizes gigabit Ethernet interfaces to enable pure IP transport and does not require active powering points in the access network. GPON is the platform for all FTTP deployments, enabling the “triple play” of voice, video and data.

External links

• Fiber to the Home Council
• Fiber to the Home Council Europe
• The Fiber Optics Weekly Update
• KMI Research Homepage
• FTTH Blog Daily updates on the business and technology of FTTH
• Telephony Magazine - FTTH One-Stop news, metrics, technology, regulatory information and industry commentary
• Kingfisher International Application Notes Fiber Optic Testing information about FTTH backbone Terminology.
• Richardson, TX FTTP Conversion Notes Details of conversion to FTTP in Dallas, TX (USA) suburb of Richardson.
• ADC Hosts First Fiber-to-the-Premises Leadership Symposium; Nationwide Series Brings Together Industry Leaders for Education, Discussion of FTTP Deployment.