May 2010 | Volume 2/Number 3
Feature Story
GPON-based OLS Helps Verizon Business Address Government VerticalBy William Kight & Michael Watts Verizon Business now offers an optical LAN solution, which involves next-gen green technology. This solution helps the carrier service the needs of the government market space since that vertical has mandatory power reduction requirements.
It also eliminates the need for expensive copper, Ethernet and multimode fiber cabling, in addition to workgroup switches. Based on an analysis, compared to a workgroup switch-based, Ethernet solution serving 1,000 users, for example, the OLS serving the same number of users significantly reduces: • power consumption by up to 65 percent; • space requirements by up to 90 percent; and • capital cost related to network elements by up to 74 percent, while improving availability and manageability. The OLS incorporates what Verizon Business calls the 3 Cs, which are convergence, simpler connectivity, and energy conservation. First, the solution enables the convergence of voice, data and video onto a single strand of single-mode fiber, which reduces the network infrastructure hardware to a fraction of what is required in terms of cabling and electronics in the conventional Ethernet approach. Next, the solution simplifies connectivity by utilizing drop cables that are pre-connectorized at the factory to enable faster deployment. The solution not only enables easier maintenance, but also improves efficiency with regard to end user-related adds, moves and changes. And, finally, it supports energy conservation, since the optical LAN infrastructure utilizes passive components like optical distribution hubs and fiber plant that require no power or cooling, resulting in significant energy savings. Also, since there are no active electronic components between the data center and the end user, particularly in the riser closets, there are significant power savings as cooling is not required in the riser closets. The solution also requires no signal regeneration for up to 20 kilometers between the data center and the end user. Some of these features and capabilities enable a faster return on investment and significantly reduce maintenance, management and operations-related costs during the life of the infrastructure. The solution is also future-resistant and has the ability to capitalize on advances in PON technology for many years to come. And it can be designed and implemented as a highly reliable and available solution with fully-redundant passive components. William Kight is group manager of network engineer project/program management at Verizon Business (News - Alert). Michael Watts is principal engineer/implementation manager at Verizon Business. NGN Magazine Table of Contents |