Network Communications News (NCN) June 2017 | Page 25

ENTERPRISE NETWORKS
 educed capital expenditure
R
– Typically the equipment and
fibre cabling is less expensive to
purchase and install. In fact, the
point-to-multipoint architecture
means less cabling will need
to be purchased and installed
which directly leads to lower
network build costs.
L ower operational costs year-
over-year – Passive Optical LAN is
based on centralised intelligence
and management similar to
wireless, cloud and hosted/
managed services architecture,
thus it promotes low human touch,
plug-and-play and machine-to-
machine type automation – this
leads to lower operational costs.
Passive Optical LAN is often likely
to have less technical support
contractual needs, initial training
and re-certification expense.
L ower building space footprint –
Passive Optical LAN enjoys 4x
the gigabit Ethernet port density
using 90 per cent less space. Its
point-to-multipoint architecture
results in less cabling which
translates to significantly less
space in buildings vertical risers
and horizontal pathways. Passive
Optical LAN also enjoys 300x
better reach with no powering
nor management which means
in some designs the telecom
rooms footprint can be drastically
reduced and even eliminated.
C ontributions to green
initiatives – Passive Optical LAN
offers power savings over Active
Ethernet solutions supporting
green initiatives and reducing
total cost of ownership. It is a
passive architecture; therefore,
it requires no power within the
Optical Distribution Network
(ODN), also known as the outside
cable plant, which removes all
power requirements from the
building aggregation portion of
the network. Not only does less
equipment require less power, it
has a ripple effect on many other
areas, including power distribution
and switchgear, power conversion
and air conditioning cooling.
Figure 2
Figure 1
 onvergence of enterprise
C
services – Converging all network
services is the foremost feature
of the Passive Optical LAN. It will
converge all services across a
single infrastructure, eliminating
the need for multiple platforms
while providing highly scalable
high-speed data services to all
users. Additionally, voice (e.g.
analog POTS and VoIP w/PoE),
video (e.g. RF video and IP video),
video conferencing services,
wireless access and monitoring
services (e.g. building automation
system, security cameras and
building sensors) are all supported
on the Passive Optical LAN.
I mproved Security – Passive
Optical LAN fibre cabling is
highly secure and produces no
EMI radiation that is typically
associated with traditional
copper wired facilities. In
addition, Passive Optical LAN low
human touch operations means
far less human error leading to
better network downtime, plus
negligent and malicious human
activities are reduced resulting
in improved security.
B etter Reliability – Passive
Optical LAN solutions offer
enterprise LANs with superior
stability, high availability and
industry leading network
uptime. A Passive Optical LAN
configuration can achieve
measured network uptime of
99.999 per cent, which is often
called 5-9s network availability
and equates to only five minutes
of network downtime annually.
A traditional active Ethernet
configuration is known to achieve
a measured network uptime of
99.9 percent, which is often called
3-9s network availability and
equates to more than five hours of
network downtime annually.
S mooth path to next-generation
technologies – Ultimately the
goal is to design Passive Optical
LAN solutions taking into account
next generation impacts (e.g.
wavelengths, powering, size,
etc…). The current generation of
single mode fibre cabling and
passive optical splitters will
support next generation 10 GbE
PON solutions. And that today’s
2.4 GbE (ITU G.984) ONTs will be
supported alongside the future
10 GbE ONTs (ITU G.989), thus
providing a graceful migration to
next generation 10 GbE PON that
can be done on a per ONT (per
super-user) basis.
APOLAN is breaking the
status quo and growing!
With these noted benefits,
the APOLAN has made great
progress over the past couple
of years leading the growth and
education of the Passive Optical
LAN industry and continuing
to formulate solutions on how
best to market, install, educate,
and support this burgeoning
field. APOLAN online outreach
influences thousands of IT
professionals through email, social
media and webinar efforts.
Twice a year, APOLAN works
directly with Building Industry
Consulting Service International
(BICSI) training hundreds of
installers and integrators on the
fundamentals of Passive Optical
LAN over a two-day training where
the students receive Continued
Education Credit (CEC) for their
efforts. Moving forward, APOLAN
is committed to relentlessly
advocate the education and
global adoption of Passive Optical
networks for the LAN marketplace
through the recent addition of
new European and Asia Pacific
sub-committees. All of which
accomplished with the expressed
intention to break the status
quo mentality in the enterprise
networks – offering an alternative,
better fibre based solution.
For further information visit:
www.apolanglobal.org
June 2017 | 25