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The AFCS Forum has recently published papers on the use of AFM in PON FTTx environments and FTTH Multi-Dwelling Units (MDUs).
Fiber to the Home, Business, Curb, or Node
Carriers, municipalities, and public-owned utilities are today rapidly deploying broadband services to the end-user. A variety of networks are being deployed, some carrying fiber all the way to the end-user in fiber-to-the-home,- building, or -premises (FTTH, FTTB, and FTTP), others using deep-fiber networks such as fiber-to-the-curb or-node (FTTC and FTTN), in which copper provides the final connection.
In all cases, a tremendous amount fiber is deployed in the last mile, which substantially complicates fiber management issues. FTTx deployments not only drive a dramatic increase in CO connections, but require much more frequent operations in order to rapidly provision and serve new customers. Moreover, much of the provisioning, testing, and troubleshooting operations require truck rolls to outside facilities such as street cabinets and manholes.
FiberZone AFM delivers major operational savings to FTTx networks by enabling the remote, efficient management of large numbers of fiber connections. Benefits include:
- Real-estate savings in the POP
- Increased network uptime and improved quality of service
- Automated provisioning
- Remote pre-provisioning testing and post-provisioning maintenance Cost-effective redundancy
- Offset capital expenditures through more efficient use of resources
- Dramatically reduced operating expense
With Passive Optical Networks (PONs), a single line card in the central office provides broadband services to tens of end-users over a shared fiber network. The primary benefit of PON’s shared network architecture is that it enables operators to amortize expensive central office costs across a number of homes.
However, PON architectures also impose costs and burdens on operators. Although the shared infrastructure is cost-effective at high penetration rates, it also requires large investments to turn on the first subscriber on a given PON. In addition, the failure of a single interface card interrupts service to dozens of customers, but 1:1 redundancy is too expensive for last-mile applications.
AFM enables the shared infrastructure to be deployed and managed efficiently, addressing operational issues posed by PONs and providing all of the benefits described above. FiberZone solutions support 1:N redundancy, thereby improving network reliability and quality-of-service at a manageable cost. AFM also enables expensive PON line cards to be populated efficiently, driving down capital expenditures. Splitter connections can be provisioned automatically, without requiring a truck roll for a manual patch.
Municipalities, utilities, and other entities are deploying publicly-owned fiber infrastructure to offer their citizens services over a ubiquitous, high-speed network. The network is typically operated on a wholesale basis. Multiple service providers offer services to residential and business customers, which in turn have the flexibility to choose their service provider. These networks are typically deployed in point-to-point architecture, resulting in a very large number of fiber ports to be managed by the network operator.
AFM products enable all of the provisioning, testing and remote management capabilities discussed above, and deliver a key additional benefit for open FTTP network operators: the ability to provide a physical connection between an end-user and the service provider of his choice, without sending a technician to the POP.
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