PETALUMA, Calif. -- Teknovus, the leading provider of semiconductors for broadband optical access networks, unveiled today details about the hardware architecture of its award-winning TK3700-series Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON) chipset. Major features that enable reliable and fast triple-play access (video/TV, data, voice ) include multiple Logical Links per ONU, which support the assignment and precise enforcement of individual service contracts for each service on a multi-service ONU, as well as a powerful Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation (DBA) engine fully implemented in hardware. Teknovus TK3700 EPON is used by KDDI in its recent deployment of fiber-optic networks for triple play access.

Dr. Glen Kramer, author of Ethernet Passive Optical Networks, offered this assessment: “The case for multiple Logical Links per ONU and hardware-based DBA is straightforward. If you need a triple-play solution that carriers can really use, then you need individual, enforceable service contracts. In EPON systems, the only effective way to implement this is to dedicate a Logical Link to each service, which of course requires that each triple-play ONU support multiple Logical Links. The role of the DBA engine is to enforce these service contracts in real time. To doDoing this at Gigabit gigabit-per-second speeds, while performing all the Layer-2 / 3 switching functions needed for a triple-play access platform, mandates the use of hardware DBA.”

Dr. John Cioffi, Hitachi America Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, stated, “What is happening today in EPON is reminiscent of the early days of Ethernet switch and router development. The first Ethernet switch products to market were processor-based systems that made all switching decisions in software, and they were slow and expensive. they Processor-based solutions became obsolete rapidly when hardware-based switches and routers were introduced. Thinking of an EPON platform as a distributed Ethernet switch, the switching function is implemented by the DBA mechanism. The inherent advantages of implementing DBA in hardware are obvious, and one should expect EPON systems with hardware DBA to be far superior to those with software DBA in terms of performance, design simplicity, and especially cost.”

Teknovus Inc.