Calix, Inc. (NYSE:CALX) says it is the first PON technology supplier to show ITU-T standards-based channel bonding within an NG-PON2 transmission. The demonstration showed how operators could use the full capacity of the company's AXOS E9-2 Intelligent Edge System – or smaller combinations of its current four-wavelength capabilities – to deliver bandwidth greater than the current 10 Gbps a single wavelength can support.
Channel bonding – which, in the case of NG-PON2, also could be thought of as wavelength bonding – enables the capacity of multiple channels to be shared, thus supporting more capacity than a single channel or wavelength. The practice is common in DSL and G.fast (see, for example, "Calix claims G.fast gigabit broadband support"). In the case of a four-wavelength NG-PON2 system, bonding enables delivery of as much as 40 Gbps both upstream and downstream per fiber.
Calix says such capabilities likely will prove useful in delivering services via an NG-PON2 network that require greater than 10 Gbps. These include 5G mobile backhaul, business services, high-density residential/MDU offerings, and transport and middle-mile applications.
Calix's AXOS E9-2 Intelligent Edge System is a finalist in Verizon's NG-PON2 acquisition initiative (see "Verizon narrows NG-PON2 choices to Ericsson/Calix and ADTRAN"), and the channel bonding demonstration came 12 days after the carrier requested it.
"One of the key attributes of NG-PON2 for carriers is the ability to consolidate business and residential services onto one NG-PON2 network, and we expect NG-PON2 channel bonding technology could help with this convergence, especially as bandwidth needs increase," said Vincent O'Byrne, director of access technology at Verizon, via a Calix press release. "This is the reason Verizon has championed channel bonding within the standards as an option to support higher capacities as well as challenged the industry for its standardization and implementation. We believe channel bonding holds the potential to more than double the bandwidth to individual subscribers or network locations and anticipate it could be a means of moving from 10 Gbps to 20 Gbps and beyond without deploying new technologies."
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher
Stephen Hardy has covered fiber optics for more than 15 years, and communications and technology for more than 30 years. He is responsible for establishing and executing Lightwave's editorial strategy across its digital magazine, website, newsletters, research and other information products. He has won multiple awards for his writing.
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