AFC signed a definitive agreement with Verizon to provide its FiberDirect solution for the carrier's FTTP initiative. Under the terms of the agreement -- which extends through 2008 -- AFC's FiberDirect solution will provide Verizon with the central office and premises electronics, or "active" elements. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- In September 2003, AFC introduced its Full Service Access Network (FSAN) compliant B-PON solution based on its widely-deployed AccessMAX multiservice access platform. AFC's solution is based on a passive optical networking (PON) plug-in card that transforms the AccessMAX platforms into an optical line terminal (OLT). The implementation, which is based on the ITU-T G.983 standard, supports a 32:1 PON split with a 20 km reach. The network supplies 622 Mbps downstream and 155 Mbps upstream. The OLT could be deployed either in the central office or in a remote terminal. AFC said a unique architectural element of its FTTP solution is that the AccessMAX integrates voice gateway functionality, enabling packetized voice traffic to be handed off from the same platform to a variety of voice interfaces, including GR-303/V5.2, TR-08/V5.1, and TR-57. This provides interoperability with a number of Class 5 switches, including the Lucent 5ESS and GTD-5, Nortel's DMS family, and Siemens' EWSD. AFC will also support packetized voice handoffs to softswitches. Management of the PON is supported by Panorama, AFC's existing network management system. At the subscriber end, AFC is introducing a FiberDirect optical node terminal (ONT) featuring a life-line voice port, a 10/100 Mbps Ethernet port, and a connection for overlay video services that would run on the 1550nm wavelength. AFC's ONT will have a local power supply as well as an external, 8-hour battery back-up that could be located inside the customer's home or garage. AFC is working with Harmonic Lightwave to develop the broadcast wavelength video overlay solution. AFC will also support an IPTV video solution using up to 30 Mbps of bandwidth to each subscriber.
