Future point-to-point technologies
Written on 3:51 PM by ooe
A constant theme through this chapter is that technology is improving all the time and nowhere more so than in the access network space. It is clear that point-to-point technologies will improve with time, however, they tend to require concentrators in the access domain or long runs of optical fibre, both of which are non-optimal except for green field sites. Despite these limitations, many manufacturers and start-ups are active in this space and future upgrades to this type of equipment are certain.
Conclusions
The pace of change in the electronics world has never been greater and this is leading to changes in PON technology which will impact significantly on the price/performance characteristics of new fibre access systems. Furthermore, there are many new companies trying to create systems that will become successful in the access network area.
Access network bit rates are increasing from the original 155 Mbit/s (20 Mbit/s for non-standard systems) to 1.25 Gbit/s and seem set to continue to rise. Whilst these bandwidth increases might not be useful in all applications, there is potential for these systems to stray into areas previously the domain of core technologies such as SDH or SONET. It might be that the introduction of new PON technologies results in a reduction in price of the older fibre access systems – making them more cost-effective in the access network space.
Whilst telecommunications operators are presently rolling out ADSL technologies and will be doing so for some time, there is already clearly a case for higher speed access network technologies being introduced into the networks of the world in the near future. Whilst VDSL may have a place in this market, the optical fibre technology must provide the ultimate solution given that the PON was specifically designed for this market segment.
Whilst point-to-point systems will have a part to play, their use as a ubiquitous access network architecture seems unlikely, given the advancements being made in PON technology.
Of course there are questions as to when the cost-reductions and price breaks that always follow new technology will occur, but this cost reduction will happen. It seems that it is not ‘if’, but merely ‘when’ fibre technologies are adopted in the access network as a matter of course, with early adopters perhaps getting the largest customer base. It must not be overlooked that laying optical fibre into an access area is not cheap, and that the economics for a second operator are so much poorer and so a second optical fibre access network in an area will probably never happen.
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