Passive Optical Networking

Telcordia positions PLS for 100G security

Dan O'Shea — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 08:52:08 -0400

Telcordia reportedly is due to announce a new technology development today that will address the need for better optical layer transmission security at speeds up to 100 Gbps. The technology, photonic layer security, has been evolving for the last few years. It addresses a network security vulnerability created by the deployment of reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers (ROADMs).

PLS actually emerged from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and before its potential security role, it was considered as a possible network congestion solution or a new step in passive optical networking technology, but high-speed network security is an area ripe for application. PLS uses two series of phase shifts, the first scrambles optical signals and the second combines multiple signals into an unreadable aggregated stream that only can be unscrambled by the user's key.

For more:
- see this coverage at Light Reading

NSN: VDSL2 rivals GPON

Dan O'Shea — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:40:42 -0400

Nokia Siemens Networks decided to exit the market for gigabit-passive optical network fiber-to-the-home architectures earlier this year, so it may not come as a surprise that the company is claiming VDSL2 can deliver 100 Mbps, and that GPON will be an outdated technology within the next four to five years. NSN CTO Stephan Scholz made the comments at the Broadband World Forum Europe.

NSN seems to believe that VDSL2 not only can match GPON in the current market, but also that wave division multiplexing-passive optical networking probably will supercede GPON in a few years. Though GPON has been successful in the U.S. in particular, WDM-PON developments have indeed been picking up steam of late.

For more:
- see this coverage at Light Reading Europe

France Telecom eyes WDM-PON via SARDANA test

Dan O'Shea — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:08:15 -0400

France Telecom confirmed at the European Conference on Optical Communications that it is involved in the ongoing Scalable Advance Ring-Based Passive Dense Access Network Architecture... wait for it... trial. The so-called SARDANA group, which also involves Tellabs, Intracom Holding and other technology researchers, is testing wavelength division multiplexing-passive optical networking (WDM-PON) technology at Tellabs facilities in Europe.

Information from the SARDANA trial will be funneled into the WDM-PON standards discussion, but France Telecom also obviously is trying to evaluate WDM-PON for its own uses, and, in the ECOC presentation, the company indicated it sees the potential for future cost savings through WDM-PON deployment. Some companies have questioned the near-term readiness of WDM-PON and the need for it, but France Telecom's endorsement and other WDM-PON technology announcements at ECOC by ZTE, Applied Optoelectronics, ADC Telecommunications and others are strengthening support for one of the most-talked-about technologies of the last year.

For more:
- read this story at Light Reading Europe

TranSwitch to acquire Centillium in chipmaker match

Dan O'Shea — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 08:52:31 -0400

TranSwitch Corp., a semiconductor company that was known for SONET, but recently moved into passive optical networking, had agreed to acquire Centillium Communications, a fellow chip maker that was known primarily for DSL and VoIP products, but recently has been able to capitalize on the PON market. The $42.8 million cash deal also unites two companies that have more in common than recent PON moves; Light Reading reports that neither company has had a profitable year among the last eight years, and a story at EETimes described the firms as "somewhat struggling."

Still, TranSwitch said the combined company will aim for profitability by the first quarter of 2009. The buyout comes several months after Centillium sold its DSL chip business to Ikanos Communications, a move that it said at the time would allow it to focus on optical and VoIP efforts. Since then, Centillium has made progress in the PON market, having won an Ethernet PON deal with NTT. Meanwhile, TranSwitch's PON efforts have been focused on Gigabit PON.

For more:
- check out this coverage at Light Reading
- and this story at EETimes

Related articles:
Centillium sold its DSL business earlier this year for $12 million Centillium report
PON equipment revenue was up worldwide at the end of 2007 PON report

NXTcomm 2008: Will WDM-PON shine?

Dan O'Shea — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 23:11:42 -0400

Nxtcomm 2008 this week in Las Vegas will be the place to look for your favorite, well-established telecom technologies, as well as those innovations sitting a few years out on the horizon. Wavelength divison multiplexing-passive optical networking (WDM-PON) belongs in the latter camp. It has been viewed by several vendors and at least a few carriers as a near-term broadband access architecture solution, and those companies actually would dispute the "few years out" part. But, it has been dissed by others who think it is a long way from being ready for prime time.

ADC Telecommunications already has indicated it will be talking about new WDM-PON developments at NXTcomm to make it easier to migrate from gigabit PON (GPON) systems to WDM-PON. Could WDM-PON's further emergence be one of the surprising stories to come out of this week's show? Stay tuned.

For more:
- see this NXTcomm GPON and WDM-PON preview at Light Reading

Related articles:
Acatel-Lucent has been one of the WDM-PON doubters WDM-PON report
NXTcomm preview? We've got your NXTcomm preview right here: NXTcomm report