Verizon has successfully completed the testing of its new technology, known in the industry as next-generation passive optical network, or NG-PON2.
It provides Internet upload and download speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second (Gbps), and the potential to increase this speed even further in future.
According to The Washington Post,
“Verizon’s FiOS network is already capable of top speeds of 500 megabits per second, which lets you download an HD movie in about 15 seconds. But the FiOS of tomorrow could be as much as 20 times faster than even those blazing speeds. For those keeping track, that’s 10 times faster than even Google Fiber, which offers some of the speediest fiber you can buy today.”
Hence Verizon’s newest optical technology is 10 times faster than the speed of Google fiber.
The technology will have the system capacity to grow to 40-80 Gbps as the market demands, according to Lee Hicks, vice president of network technology for Verizon. This is possible by simply adding new colors of light onto the existing fiber, each augmenting the capacity by up to 10 Gbps.
The technology upgrade can also be used to support multi-gigabit-speed Internet access services for FiOS customers as the marketplace demands such services and as the technology matures. Upgrades on the FTTP network will begin when commercial equipment is available to support business services such as switched Ethernet services.
The field testing of the new technology was completed recently from Verizon’s central office in Framingham, Mass., to a FiOS customer’s home 3 miles away as well as to a nearby business location. This followed extensive testing in Verizon’s laboratories in Waltham, Mass.
The trial consisted of a new optical line terminal (OLT) installed in the Verizon central office, generating four wavelengths, or colors of light, each capable of operating at 10G/2.5G. Later versions are envisioned to support the same download and upload speeds of 10G/10G per color. One test transmitted the NG-PON2 signals over a fiber serving live GPON customers proving that the network can simultaneously deliver GPON and NG-PON2 on the same fiber.
The field trial also validated an important service reliability feature of NG-PON2. In this test, a fault in the central office equipment was simulated and the customer’s ONT autonomously tuned to another wavelength, restoring its own 10G service in seconds. This new feature of NG-PON2 has critical implications for improved customer reliability and performance.
Verizon said “It will issue a request for proposals later this year for the purchase of hardware and software for the new NG-PON2 platform”
Initially, higher-speed applications would be most attractive for business customers. That’s expected to change as the adoption of 4K video content and the explosion of the Internet of Things, with an estimated 25 billion Internet-connected devices expected by 2020, will create demand for higher symmetrical speeds and lower latency for consumers as well.
“The advantage of our FiOS network is that it can be upgraded easily by adding electronics onto the fiber network that is already in place. Deploying this exciting new technology sets a new standard for the broadband industry and further validates our strategic choice of fiber-to-the-premises.”
The trial was conducted with a NG-PON2 equipment system from Cisco and PT Inovação.
About Verizon:
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), is an American broadband and telecommunications company, the largest U.S. wireless communications service provider as of September 2014, and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Verizon Communications formed in June 2000 when the Federal Communications Commission approved a US$64.7 billion merger of telephone companies Bell Atlantic and GTE, nearly two years after the deal was proposed in July 1998.
The name Verizon derives from the combination of the words veritas, Latin for truth, and horizon. The name was chosen from 8,500 candidates and the company spent $300 million on marketing the new brand.
About Verizon FiOS:
Verizon FiOS is a bundled Internet access, telephone, and television service that operates over a fiber-optic communications network to over 5 million people in 13 states. Service is offered in some areas of the United States by Verizon Communications and Frontier Communications.
Verizon was one of the first major U.S. carriers to offer fiber to the home, and received positive ratings from Consumer Reports among cable television and Internet service providers.
Related News:
Verizon will offer the newest price plan for customers from August 13 onwards: The new plan offers four easy sizes of data to match the customer’s usage of wireless services. And each size comes with unlimited talk and text, with extra data for just $15 per GB. Customers can also get even more data by contacting their Verizon Wireless representative.
