IEEE standardises 10G EPON for FTTH networks

Stuart Corner
Saturday, 12 September 2009 04:38

IT Industry - Strategy

The IEEE Standards Board has announced the approval of an amendment to the ethernet standard (802.3) which adds a new specification for 10Gbps on point-to-multipoint passive optical networks used for FTTH rollouts like Australia's NBN.

The ethernet standard already covers 1Gbps ethernet passive optical network (1G-EPON) that, according to the IEEE serves more than 30 million users worldwide. However it is facing increasing competitive pressure from GPON which has yet to be standardised at 10Gbps.

The 802.3 amendment is known by the much less memorable mouthful name of IEEE Std. 802.3av, "Standard for Information Technology - Telecommunications and Information Exchange Between Systems - Local and Metropolitan Area Networks - Specific Requirements Part 3: Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) Access Method and Physical Layer Specifications Amendment: Physical Layer Specifications and Management Parameters for 10Gb/s Passive Optical Networks."

According to David Law, chair, IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Working Group, "The 10G-EPON standard enables the network operators to significantly increase the performance of their point-to-multipoint architectures, supporting emerging bandwidth-intensive services, while simultaneously lowering the costs related to equipment, operation, upgrade and maintenance."

Glen Kramer, chair, IEEE P802.3av 10G-EPON Task Force, added: "The 10G-EPON standard provides the highest data rate among all existing access technologies. In addition, 10G-EPON is designed to coexist with previous generation EPON on the same network, allowing mixed deployments and targeted, one-user-at-a-time, upgrades."

IEEE Std. 802.3av was developed by the Ethernet Working Group of the Local and Metropolitan Area Networks Standards Committee of the IEEE Computer Society. More information is available from the Task Force's web site.

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