Nokia has unveiled its Lightspan SF-8M, an addition to its high-performance fiber broadband connectivity offering that the company notes can be deployed anywhere in the outside plant. The Lightspan SF-8M supports both GPON and XGS-PON connectivity, and is geared to support 25G PON in the future. The sealed remote optical line terminal (OLT) comes with flexible powering options, including power-over-coax capability, making the unit particularly suitable for cable operators.
As noted by Mark Klimek, business center lead for North America, Nokia Fixed Networks: “In a highly competitive world, cable operators need to find cost-effective solutions to increase speed and performance. Next-generation fiber upgrades are happening three years sooner than expected. The Lightspan SF-8M provides the perfect solution for cable operators that want to quickly increase capacity and flexibly migrate to fiber-to-the-home.”
Based on the Nokia Quillion chipset, the Lightspan SF-8M is billed as a "high-throughput, power-efficient, low-latency remote OLT...perfectly suited to support residential, business, and mobile transport services." Nokia says the Lightspan SF-8M OLT will provide deployment flexibility with both gigabit and multi-gigabit services. The unit’s IP-67-rated sealed enclosure enables installation anywhere in the outside plant, on a strand, inside or outside a cabinet, or on a pole or wall.
The Lightspan SF-8M will support eight GPON, XGS-PON, or multi-PON ports, or four 25G PON ports. The OLT will also come with flexible powering options including power-over-coax, AC, DC, or RFT-V.
The new product addition enhances Nokia's current SDAN-based portfolio, including: the Lightspan FX family (for centralized deployments); the MF-2 (for distributed deployments); and the DF-16GM (for low density deployments) families, along with a wide range of ONTs, and associated professional services.
Nokia says the new Lightspan SF-8M platform will enable cable operators to quickly respond to rapidly increasing competition from both established telcos and new operators. "With the capacity to support a wide range of speeds, cable operators can now better address end user requirements and deliver line rates of 2.5 Gb/s or 10 Gb/s today and evolve to 25 Gb/s in the future," stated the company.
Jeff Heynen, VP of the Broadband Access and Home Networking practice at telecom industry analyst Dell’Oro Group, asserted: “A growing number of MSOs are moving ahead with strategic fiber network buildouts as they wait on DOCSIS 4.0 product availability. These MSOs are relying heavily on remote OLTs, which give them the flexibility to deliver fiber from existing node locations. In fact, Dell’Oro Group is projecting global remote OLT revenue to grow to over $100M by 2026.”
According to Dell’Oro research, Nokia was the 2021 market share leader for XGS-PON fiber broadband equipment, and seven out of 10 fiber homes in the U.S. are being served using the Nokia FTTH kit.