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North American MSO – EPON Deployments Edwin J. Mallette 04/21/2012

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SummaryA number of North American Multiple SystemOperators (MSOs) are currently deploying EPON.Some North American MSOs have had EPON deployedfor a number of years.With initiatives like DOCSIS Provisioning of EPON(DPoE) and the EPON Protocol over a Coax (EPoC)PHY, the number of North American MSO EPONdeployments is expected to grow.EPON implementations to date at North AmericanMSOs are (primarily) for Commercial and Businessservices.That said, some MSOs have expressed interest inutilizing EPON for residential first-mile access,particularly in “green field” deployments.This talk will cover a number of North American MSOexample service deployments using EPON.

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C1: Metro Ethernet Services (basic) North American MSOs are utilizing EPON to provide Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) certified metro Ethernet services. What’s shown below is a MEF E-LINE service (it could be Ethernet Private Line or Ethernet Virtual Private Line.) Multipoint services (such as Ethernet Local Area Network, Ethernet Private LAN/Ethernet Virtual Private LAN) are also provided using EPON as a first-mile access. In this simple case (no Ethernet OAM – such as Connectivity Fault Management or Performance Management as defined in 802.1ag and Y.1731) a basic ONU is often solely utilized as the carrier demarcation point.

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C2: Advanced MEF ServicesCustomer demand for service performance measurement havedriven North American MSOs to offer advanced management fortheir MEF services.Often a specific Network Interface Device (NID) is deployed toprovide the advanced services endpoint.A Small Form Factor Pluggable (SFP) ONU (rather than a separateONU connected via copper twisted pair) is often plugged into thecaddy of the NID to provide access to the PON.Additionally advanced ONUs have been considered to fill the needand reduce solution cost.A wide variety of tools are being used today for service activationtest and certification (e.g. service birth certificate) though Y.1564 isexpected to become widely deployed for this purposes.Thus we’d expect to see Y.1564 show up in either the deployed NIDor in the Advanced ONU in the future.

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C3: WiFi Hotspot AggregationHot Spot Aggregation is the service enabling WiFi hotspots toallow Internet connectivity in a wide variety of (typically)public venues.EPON is utilized to provide first-mile access between the COand the distributed hotspots.Many WiFi Access Points / Base Stations used for hotspots arecurrently shipping with SFP socketsAs a result EPON SFP ONUs are the ONU of choice for thisapplication due to space and power constraints.

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C4: Mobile BackhaulSome North American MSOs use EPON to provide the first-mile access to the cell-site for mobile backhaul.The Mobile Switching Center / Wireless Switching Center first-mile access is typically provided via another medium.Below is an exemplary diagram from one North American MSOfor their mobile backhaul physical topology.Key for this deployment is minimizing delay and jitter – forinstance by reducing the EPON polling interval.In at least one deployment T-1 clock was provided by usingadaptive clock recovery on the mobile backhaul CPE. 6

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C5: Managed IP Routed NetworkNorth American MSOs are utilizing EPON toprovide the first-mile access for managed L3VPN(routed) networks.EPON SFP ONUs are deployed (when supported)in the managed routers.In the case of simple L3VPN service (no managedrouter) only an ONU is deployed at the premise.

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C6: Internet and VoiceVoice Services and Internet Services are very commonbread and butter services for many MSOs.The diagram below depicts EPON utilized to providefirst-mile access for internet+voice services to bothbusiness/commercial locations and residences.So far, a very small percentage of North AmericanMSO residential services utilizes EPON in the first-mile.

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Converged AccessConverged Access is fundamental to driving access costs down.EPON is but one piece of the overall puzzle. Provisioning and managingthe shared access elements is often the larger more complex piece.Today some North American MSOs converge mobile backhaul and allbusiness services on the same platform.Whether to converge both residential and business services on thesame access platform and same PON is still TBD by many NorthAmerican MSOs.At least one NA-MSO has indicated the intent to converge residentialand commercial access mechanism with the same access system andwith the same PON.

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Closing RemarksThere are many types of services beingoffered over EPON as a first-mile technologywithin a number of North American MSOnetworks.Certainly there’s room to grow into providingresidential services over EPON as MSOs aregenerally limited to coaxial cable for the loopto the home.Once development is complete in extendingexisting provisioning platforms (with DPoE) toeffectively configure advanced services,EPON is positioned to be even more heavilyutilized by North American MSOs.

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Thank You!!->