By Kevin A. Noll, CableLabs
While predictions of the rate of internet traffic growth might vary, broadband service providers are clear that their networks need to evolve to support higher capacities and new distinguishing features. Charting a network’s evolutionary path is always a challenge and today’s glut of technology options brings a heightened awareness of the potential for “regrettable spend”.
Broadband service providers are charting an evolutionary path for their existing Fiber-to-the-Premises(FTTP) architectures and for their Hybrid Fiber-Coaxial (HFC) networks. The plethora of options for Passive Optical Network (PON) clouds the decision-making process.
The present text will provide a comparative analysis of 10G PON, 25G PON, 50G PON, and 100G Coherent PON technologies, summarizing their technical merits, deployment scenarios, and economic considerations. The paper will briefly survey the various models of internet usage and highlight how each technology can address escalating bandwidth requirements. It will overview the specifications, capabilities, and potential use cases for each PON technology. The paper is designed to be an introductory framework which can be used to help select the most appropriate PON technology, tailored to the specific needs of new deployments and the upgrade paths for existing networks.