Verizon will test NGPON technology with ADTRAN and Ericsson/Calix in its Innovation Lab in Waltham, Massachusetts. The testing partnerships were the result of an RFP process instituted by Verizon aimed at improving its fiberoptic network. Testing will begin this month.
Testing will focus on several features of NG-PON2, including tuning performance, ability to carry residential and business services on the same platform, and interoperability and conformance testing to meet Verizon ONT specifications.
Verizon is assessing this next-generation technology to provide increased speeds and functionality to customers on its Fios network. NG-PON2 technology supports up to 40G of total capacity and up to 10G speeds per customer, both upstream and downstream, over a single fiber – a tenfold increase over some of the current speeds in the industry. Using NG-PON2 technology, the company plans to initially deploy a number of business services in 2017, followed by residential services as the technology matures and the market demands.
ADTRAN is already in customer trials with its existing XGSPON technology which provides increased capacity and is working as a half-step between NG-PON and the full adoption of NG-PON2. Those trials offer a 10-gigabit fiber-to-the-home service, more than is currently available on FIOS. The technology uses existing fiber infrastructure which can make it more cost effective for providers.
ADTRAN claims that its technology will double the usable life span of a fiber network regardless of how fast the markets broadband traffic usage grows.
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