The combination of OTN and PON can bring optical network performance to the edge of the network and into the customer premises, delivering the highly reliable, low-latency services that are expected by enterprises and individuals. These two optical networking technologies work well together, with OTN providing guaranteed bandwidth and latency over optical transmission networks and PON enabling cost-effective shared fiber connections for home and enterprise broadband. The resulting all-optical network can give service providers a significant advantage when offering wireline and wireless broadband services.

Edge networks require differentiated network capabilities to deliver the enhanced services expected by businesses and families. High-definition and ultra-high-definition video requires high bandwidth. Cloud gaming, cloud augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) and videoconferencing require low-latency connections. Smart manufacturing and developments for Industry 4.0 require cloud-based services and massive machine connectivity. Enterprises and government organizations have moved to cloud storage, both public and private, and virtual private networks requiring high-availability network services that can deliver these differentiated capabilities.

OTN is widely deployed in optical transmission networks. It provides efficient DWDM transport for different kinds of services, including SDH, Ethernet and 5G wireless. OTN provides guaranteed bandwidth with no congestion or packet loss and deterministic latency. With the latest industry developments, OTN will scale from a few megabits per second, replacing low bit rate TDM networks, to multiples of 100 Gbit/s. Carriers are continuing to deploy OTN around the world, with OTN equipment sales growing in every region.

PON provides a shared fiber connection for fiber to the home (FTTH) and fiber to the premises (FTTP) broadband services. It supports flexible deployments with symmetric or asymmetric services and shared bandwidths of up to 2.5 Gbit/s for the widely deployed GPON. 10G PON networks are in the early deployment phase, and next-generation PON networks will support 25Gbit/s or 50Gbit/s shared bandwidths. The total PON equipment market is forecast to grow significantly, with China remaining strong and good growth in EMEA and North America.

Building simplified architecture

A recent Light Reading webinar, "OTN to Edge, Building Simplified Architecture for Premium Experience" (view the archive here), provided detailed insights into the opportunities available for carriers looking to bring OTN and PON together at the edge to deliver these latest service capabilities. During the webinar, Idroy Sibin, transmission senior engineer at Celcom Timur (Sabah), presented the Malaysian carrier's all-optical network evolution strategy and discussed how it would help reduce site total cost of ownership and enable easy operations and maintenance. In a video shown during the webinar, Yimin Luo from China Unicom Guangdong explained how the carrier is using all-optical network developments to upgrade cloud private lines and private networks to deliver the ultimate experience to the cloud and ubiquitous access.

The final speaker on the webinar was Claudio Lugari, transport network solutions director, who presented Huawei's network solution that brings together OTN and PON at the edge. This all-optical architecture allows carriers to deploy a compact solution that supports both edge OTN and PON OLT functionality in a single Huawei OptiX SuperSite cabinet. The cabinet can be floor-, wall- or pole-mounted, allowing significant flexibility. This solution can simplify and accelerate all-optical network deployments.

Edge networks with differentiated network capabilities are key to delivering enhanced services. The combination of OTN and PON can enable carriers to deploy an all-optical network that provides high-availability, low-latency connections across the network to the customer. By colocating the edge OTN and PON OLT in a single cabinet, carriers can simplify deployment and accelerate time to market.

— Simon Stanley, Analyst at Large, Heavy Reading

This blog is sponsored by Huawei.