INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Cabling
Nokia and Vodafone showcase record-breaking 100 gigabit fibre broadband
Nokia and Vodafone have announced
the successful trial of a new Passive
Optical Network ( PON ) technology capable of delivering speeds up to 100 gigabits per second ( Gb / s ) on a single wavelength 10-times faster than the most advanced networks available today .
This marks the latest industry-first in fibre access for Nokia , following breakthroughs in 10G PON , TWDM-PON , universal PON and 25G PON .
The trial , which took place in Vodafone ’ s Eschborn lab in Germany , is the latest milestone in a long-standing collaboration between Vodafone and Nokia to accelerate the potential of fibre broadband . The demand for broadband connectivity continues to grow exponentially in terms of the service types , number of connected devices and the bandwidth consumed . It is essential that future fixed access networks have the capacity to absorb this growth .
To deliver 100 Gb / s on a single wavelength , Nokia Bell Labs leveraged cost-effective 25G optics in combination with state-ofthe-art digital signal processing ( DSP ) techniques . 25G class optics are based on mature ecosystem and available today . Going beyond 25G requires advanced DSP capabilities demonstrated in this trial . Once this DSP is adopted , the steps to 50G and 100G are straightforward and could be commercially available in the second half of the decade .
The Nokia Bell Labs 100G PON prototype is the world ’ s first application of flexible rate transmission in a PON network . Flexible rate transmission works by grouping fibre modems ( ONUs ) that exhibit similar physical network characteristics ( e . g . loss or dispersion ) and makes data transmission more efficient . Using flexible rate transmission results in lower latency on a PON and cuts power consumption in half – two essential characteristics for fibre networks that have a rapidly growing role in the massive delivery of fixed and mobile broadband services .
Vodafone has a history of pioneering state-ofthe-art access technologies , having been the first operator in Europe to trial TWDM-PON , also with Nokia . The operator has the largest next-generation access network capability in Europe , covering 140 million homes . Vodafone ’ s strategy is to push fibre deeper to customers and evolve to a unified fibre-based network for access , aggregation , backhaul of cable nodes and mobile transport . Vodafone see 100G PON as a potential way to create highly flexible and scalable PON networks that will mitigate the risk of future peak-hour congestion and enable densification of cable and mobile networks .
Gavin Young , Vodafone ’ s Head of Fixed Access Centre of Excellence , said : “ 100G PON has 40-times the capacity of today ’ s GPON networks , and 10-times the capacity of XGS-GPON , so it will help us keep ahead of the demand curve . In addition to ultrahigh speeds , the technology supports our vision of highly efficient and adaptable nextgeneration networks . 100G PON enables flexible rates and works by grouping modems using a technique similar to the one we already use in our cable networks , so this experience can help us to better evaluate and exploit this new PON technology .” p
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