Teknovus and KDDI Seek to Scale EPON to 10 Gbps

Teknovus, a developer of Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON) chipsets, and KDDI, one of Japan's leading telecom carriers, unveiled a Next Generation Ethernet Passive Optical Network (NGEPON) roadmap seeking to scale downstream rates to 10 Gbps.



KDDI is already currently deploying EPON technology capable of 1 Gbps as the access technology for IPTV and Triple Play services.



The companies said NGEPON systems will be needed in the future to support hundreds of interactive channels, a rich mix of high-definition content, narrowcasting, and virtual personal video recording capabilities. Bandwidth requirements to support these services likely will exceed 100 Mbps per user thus demanding a solution such as NGEPON.



Mr. Shigeo Morita, Senior Manager of KDDI's Terminal System Development, stated, "KDDI already is deploying 1Gbps EPON in Japan. Our exciting triple-play service offering is attracting customers as fast as we can roll out the service. At the same time, we recognize that Ethernet technology and customer needs will not stand still and we will in the future have the capability to offer even more advanced IPTV and other services to the broader customer base. In this case it is critical that the next generation products be compatible with our installed base to minimize additional cost and maximize revenue. We believe the NGEPON roadmap will meet these objectives. Further, we plan for Teknovus and other semiconductor vendors to supply interoperable NGEPON chipsets to keep costs down and keep our options open."http://www.teknovus.com