Huawei and BT unit Openreach announced they have tested a 25/100 Gbit/s symmetric PON prototype as part of preparations to support future 5G speeds, as well as manage network demands from ultra-HD (UHD) video consumption and enterprise leased lines.
The Huawei technology trialled is designed to enable operators to increase speeds and bandwidth on their existing network infrastructure, and so help to future-proof their networks.
The PON prototype from Huawei supports a single channel of 25 Gbit/s and is designed to address bandwidth requirements arising from both FTTx services and provide two or four channels to support business and mobile backhaul services. During testing in Openreach labs, the prototype was able to support four channels to deliver an overall maximum symmetric bandwidth of up to 100 Gbit/s.
Huawei has developed the 25/100 Gbit/s symmetric PON prototype based on the MA5800 platform, a commercially-deployed distributed optical line terminal (OLT). When deployed, the PON prototype is designed to allow reuse of existing optical distribution network (ODN) infrastructures to help protect providers' investments and facilitate network evolution.
Huawei noted that its new-generation distributed smart OLT MA5800 and 10 Gbit/s PON ONT are currently in use by 50 operators worldwide. The company recently released the CloudFAN solution that supports slicing functionality for multi-service bearing over a single network to help enable an efficient access network.
* Recently, Openreach launched what it claimed was the first live demonstration of a 100 Gbit/s, 'hyperfast' broadband service at the BT R&D centre at Adastral Park in the UK working with Huawei.
The demonstration involved a standard residential FTTP connection with advanced transmission technology designed to enhance the broadband signal and enable increased capacity. Developed jointly with research partner Huawei, BT believes that the new broadband technology could be used to 'super-charge' speeds for business and consumer customers in the future.
