Many service providers are looking to converge, modernize, and monetize their network investments. Bringing more value to the access and network edge means doing more on the same infrastructure, which begs the question—What if you could offer differentiated residential and business broadband (and even mobile) services on the same network? Ciena’s Vimal Pindoria, Director Routing and Switching, shares how Ciena’s XGS-PON micro-OLTs (uOLTs) can help solve the broadband dilemma.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen service providers make a concerted investment in GPON, delivering modern broadband and building a strong fiber foundation for growth. This has created several new opportunities for broadband providers including reaching new communities, adding multiple dwelling units, overlaying B2B Ethernet services, and scaling up bandwidth to deliver 10G and 25G speeds.

Making the most of this fiber infrastructure investment requires a flexible and sustainable approach to continue their network evolution to XGS-PON, 25G-PON and beyond.

A modern approach to expand broadband services

Unfortunately, the traditional approach of deploying chassis based systems supporting multiple XGS-PON line cards or using a fixed form factor “pizza box” OLT units are inefficient and costly:

• Fixed form factors often lead to over deploying or under deploying capacity.
• Deployment is limited to locations where space and power are available to accommodate the legacy OLT’s footprint and power requirements.
• The larger form factor and power requirements make it harder to achieve sustainability goals and lead to a higher cost to operate.

Technological innovation and miniaturization enable a more precise approach to adding PON to new locations, delivering service faster to both residential or business users.

Figure 1: XCVR-SGPL02 and XCVR-SGPL04

Take Ciena’s uOLT. It is a fully functional optical line terminal in a small form factor pluggable (with an embedded Ethernet-to-PON OLT MAC bridge), and when plugged into an Ethernet port in a host switch or router, turns that port into an OLT on a port-by-port basis. As a result, service providers benefit from:

• Minimal space and power requirements, making it sustainable — and economical.
• Small form factor pluggables make it very flexible, and also means it can even sit on a pole, far out at the edge of the network.
• Granular scalability begins at one port/one OLT and can scale a port at a time to a large system deployment.

Key considerations when evolving your broadband networks

Strategically upgrading broadband infrastructure to support new user demands and reach new locations is critical to sustainably growing your broadband operation.

The right technology can enable maximum flexibility, increase agility, and enable better business and environmental outcomes.

Here are some questions you should be asking yourself when choosing your next OLT for your broadband upgrade and expansion:

• Space: Does the technology require a full chassis or “pizza box” form factor for a single function OLT, or can you plug it into existing infrastructure? Using Ciena’s , providers can achieve up to a 67% footprint reduction, which was validated  by Omdia in their April 2024 report "Pluggable PON and Ciena - Promoting Sustainable Access".
• Conditioning: Does the equipment require temperature controlled and conditioned environment, or can it be deployed anywhere in the network? Ciena’s uOLT can operate at external temperature extremes ranging from -40°C to +50°C (E-temp) or  -40°C to +65°C (I-temp).
• Versatility: Can you deploy your OLT virtually anywhere, even on a utility pole? Our uOLTs can sit on a 3985 ruggedized router on a pole, far out at the edge of the network.
• Flexibility: Are you able to decide port by port whether to deploy native Ethernet, XGS-PON or 25GS-PON? The uOLT module can be deployed in any available Ethernet port leaving other ports available for other services.
• Scalability: How many OLT ports do you need to deploy based on the port count in the box? Do you need to buy the whole “pizza shop” to get a slice, or can you “pay as you grow”? Ciena’s uOLT can be deployed one port at a time.
• Power: What are your OLT’s requirements? Using our 5164 universal aggregation router providers can achieve a 63% power reduction, per Omdia.
• Cost: What is the incremental investment and ongoing expense required to deploy? Ciena’s approach is interoperable and incremental, enabling providers to leverage existing infrastructure and deploy surgically where needed.
• Sustainability: What are the current and future environmental requirements? We have made corporate-wide commitments to sustainability through efficiency in operations and innovation in products as outlined in our extensive annual Sustainability Report.
• Strategy: Does your provider have the long-term commitment, strategic in-house roadmap and financial backing to enable your future needs for the next 10 years and beyond?  Over the past three-plus decades, Ciena has become a leader optical and routing systems, services, and automation software, and we have the funding and long-term roadmap to execute on this commitment.

Additionally, the uOLT is part of Ciena's comprehensive broadband solution, including the 5164 router, which opens up a range of revenue opportunities by addressing diverse deployment scenarios, including the  delivery of multiple services over a converged architecture, including PON, dedicated Ethernet services for businesses, fiber sharing in the access network and pick up xHaul traffic from local cell towers.

Figure 2: Ciena’s residential broadband (FTTH) use case

Ciena’s innovative approach to deploying and running broadband services, leveraging our uOLT, is sustainable, economical, and – as it can be deployed and scaled a port at a time – gives providers a high degree of flexibility. Ciena’s broadband solution gives you the ultimate in deployment flexibility, granular scalability and maximum sustainability.

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