SEPTEMBER 9, 2009 -- Chip companies Xelerated and Opulan have partnered to deliver highly integrated EPON offerings for the Chinese FTTH equipment market. Xelerated’s AX family of programmable Ethernet switches, combined with Opulan’s 10G EPON technologies, will provide Chinese network equipment vendors and carriers with the market’s first cost-effective, unified, and programmable fiber access option for multi-dwelling unit (MDU) switches and 10G optical line terminal (OLT) designs, the companies assert.
The Chinese fiber access market is expected to grow rapidly in the next few years (see "Infonetics: Asia Pacific PON market shifting"), and will be split between EPON, GPON and Ethernet point-to-point based access. To address this challenge, Xelerated and Opulan are incorporating each of these technologies into a single offering with a new and integrated unified fiber access approach. The offering is programmable, which enables network equipment vendors to customize the devices for future innovations and standards without hardware upgrades. For broadband service providers, this translates to extended lifetime of the access equipment -- lowering the total cost of ownership while maximizing feature functionality, according to the vendors.
“We saw a need in the Chinese carrier market for a unified, programmable fiber access solution at the right cost level,” said Joe Xu, director of marketing development at Opulan. “Knowing such a solution was possible with the right technology, we partnered with Xelerated to deliver the first comprehensive and cost-effective EPON solution to the carrier market.”
Designed to meet China Telecom EPON technical specifications, Opulan’s EPON OLT device provides a broadband access architecture that complies with TR-156 and CTC standards. Xelerated says its AX family of Ethernet switches complements this high-speed access with its wire-speed data flow architecture in addition to its programmable packet processing and advanced traffic management support.
“Opulan has a standing reputation for its high-performing 10G EPON solutions in China market. That, combined with its strong leadership in the broadband access industry, makes the company a perfect partner for Xelerated,” said Thomas Eklund, vice president of marketing and business development at Xelerated. “Together we are creating a cost-effective, unified, and programmable fiber access solution for EPON MDU switches and OLT design.”