Zhone Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: ZHNE) today says its new GPON ONT will help carriers repair their fiber-to-the-home installations remotely, while shaving as much as $460 a home off customer setup costs.

The new zNID ONT will be line-powered via existing copper phone wire, so Zhone says the labor and install times should be greatly reduced since carrier technicians won't have to drill through walls and go through great pains to hook the device up to electric power.

The zNID will also operate on a TR-069 Automatic Configuration Server which is the same standard used by the millions of DSL connections worldwide. Zhone says this will save truck rolls and further reduce costs, since carriers can remotely diagnose and correct problems.

Another great claim Zhone is making has to do with interoperability. Zhone says it can sell its zNID to any customer no matter what GPON equipment they are using. So in theory, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) could use Zhone's zNID on its FiOS network, even if someone other than Zhone is the OLT vendor.

That interoperatbility is another FTTx bugaboo. "GPON interoperability is the next step in the industry," says analyst Vince Vittore of Yankee Group Research Inc. "Carriers aren't demanding it just yet, but they could be soon."

Zhone's not alone in its drive to make its ONTs interoperable with OLT vendors. Sources say TXP Corp. (Nasdaq: TXPO) is set to announce a similar device, with OLT interoperability as a main feature, later this week. TXP's technology was acquired from Siemens AG (NYSE: SI; Frankfurt: SIE) in 2006. (See Siemens Sells ONT Biz.)

Zhone says it already has several customers lined up for this new GPON product line, including Consolidated Communications Inc. The vendor's major customers for its other product lines include Cox Communications Inc. , Windstream Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: WIN), and tw telecom inc. (Nasdaq: TWTC).

— Raymond McConville, Reporter, Light Reading