North American MSO –EPON Deployments

Edwin J. Mallette04/21/2012

Summary

A number of North American Multiple System Operators (MSOs) are currently deploying EPON.Some North American MSOs have had EPON deployed for 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 EPON deployments is expected to grow.EPON implementations to date at North American MSOs are (primarily) for Commercial and Business services.That said, some MSOs have expressed interest in utilizing EPON for residential first-mile access, particularly in “green field” deployments.This talk will cover a number of North American MSO example service deployments using EPON.

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.

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

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

C4: Mobile Backhaul

Some 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 MSO for their mobile backhaul physical topology.Key for this deployment is minimizing delay and jitter – for instance by reducing the EPON polling interval.In at least one deployment T-1 clock was provided by using adaptive clock recovery on the mobile backhaul CPE.

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C5: Managed IP Routed NetworkNorth American MSOs are utilizing EPON to provide 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 managed router) only an ONU is deployed at the premise.

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

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

Closing Remarks

There are many types of services being offered over EPON as a first-mile technology within a number of North American MSO networks.Certainly there’s room to grow into providing residential services over EPON as MSOs are generally limited to coaxial cable for the loop to the home.Once development is complete in extending existing provisioning platforms (with DPoE) to effectively configure advanced services, EPON is positioned to be even more heavily utilized by North American MSOs.

Thank You!!->