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Carrier Services
Verizon Sets Aggressive FiOS Expansion
MDUs Are The Focus For 07
by Sean Buckley
With a plan to connect 18 million premises with fiber by the end of 2010,
it’s safe to say that Verizon is probably the most ambitious of the large
ILECs when it comes to broadband access.
While 2005 and 2006 were all about proving that FTTP (fiber to the
premises) can work, in 2007 the emphasis of Verizon’s FTTP drive will be
on extending those services to the MDU (multi-dwelling unit) market
segment. Given that Verizon passes through some large urban areas
such as Boston and New York, both with an abundance of MDUs, such a
drive makes sense.
“We will continue to deploy BPON (broadband passive optical network),
but the main challenge for 2007 will be taking advantage of the MDU
opportunity,” said Vincent O’Byrne, director of technology for
Verizon. “We’re going to expand that next year using a multi-customer
ONT (optical network terminal).”
These new ONTs, supplied by the likes of Alcatel, Motorola and Tellabs,
will be able to support any number of customers from a single unit. After
it gets its best practices down, Verizon will extend the benefits of these
second-generation ONTs across its footprint, offering additional capacity
in a more compact space to target both small apartment buildings and
large MDUs in big cities.
Through these ONTs, Verizon will deliver services to the end-customer
using standard Ethernet and VDSL on BPON. Going forward, Verizon will
deploy VDSL2 over GPON (Gigabit PON). To avoid rewiring each premises
with Cat 5 wiring, the Tellabs ONT uses MoCA® (Multimedia over Coax
Alliance) that connects to an integrated broadband router in the living
space that employs the customer’s existing coax connection to distribute
video and data.
While Verizon’s initial FTTP drive was over BPON, in 2007 the emphasis
will be on deploying GPON for MDUs. GPON will be able to provide enough
bandwidth for high-speed data downloads/uploads and for Verizon’s
future roll out of IPTV. After it finishes its internal review of GPON-
capable ONT units, Verizon hopes to deploy VDSL2-enabled GPON ONTs
by mid-year.
Overall, the key is to have a common vision for every customer
connection, says O’Byrne. “Our preference, even in MDUs, especially in
Greenfield markets, would be to put in a modified single-family unit similar
to what we have been deploying on the outside of people’s houses in the
living unit,” he said. “That way customers can get exactly the same
service set regardless if they live in an MDU or a single family home.”
But for all the possibilities that will come with an all fiber-based access
network, Verizon realizes that it will be years before it reaches a critical
mass. Unlike AT&T and BellSouth, which have advocated delivering
ADSL2+ over FTTN (fiber to the node) architecture, Verizon will carry
ADSL2+ services over shorter loops.
That said, Verizon is eyeing DSM (dynamic spectrum management) and
MIMO/DMT (multiple-in, multiple-out/digital multimedia technology) to
improve its DSL network. “Our DSL network is still very important to us,
so we’re looking at MIMO/DMT and DSM. We have several trials planned
with vendors on those technologies to see if we can improve DSL
performance across a larger number of lines,” he said. “The objective
with DSM technology is to see if we can preemptively spot and analyze
troubles and equalize the performance across the lines. Obviously, we
have certain throughputs out to a certain distance, but we want to
make sure that everyone at that distance has a better chance of
getting that throughput.”
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