PMC first to market with symmetric end-to-end 10G-EPON SoCs

SUNNYVALE, USA: PMC-Sierra Inc. continues its FTTH leadership announcing the commercial availability of an end-to-end symmetric 10G-EPON fiber access System-on-Chip (SoC) solution. PMC’s highly integrated PAS9000 Optical Networking Unit (ONU) and PAS8000 Optical Line Terminal (OLT) SoCs are the industry’s first to support 10Gb/s downstream and 10Gb/s upstream access connectivity.

This performance and feature integration enables carriers to provide advanced triple-play video-on-demand, high-speed Internet access and Voice-over-IP services to residential and business customers. Transitioning from EPON to 10G-EPON allows carriers to connect up to 10 times more subscribers per Optical Distribution Network (ODN), reducing OPEX and CAPEX per subscriber. PMC’s 10G-EPON solutions are interoperable with deployed EPON equipment, allowing carriers to gradually upgrade their networks and deploy 10G-EPON ONUs alongside EPON ONUs.

PMC’s ONU devices feature the industry’s most advanced integration to reduce system cost and power. Integrated synchronization functions enable backhauling of mobile networks over 10G-EPON, eliminating the need for external circuitry. Integrated power-saving modes reduce ONU power consumption by more than 50 percent, enabling energy-efficient networks.

“Carriers continue to seek ways to meet the demand for enhanced triple-play services and increased bandwidth, and 10G-EPON provides the answer with high reliability and low operational expenses,” said Ofer Bar-Or, vice president and general manager of PMC’s Fiber to the Home Division. “As the market leader, PMC is paving the way for higher bandwidth networks at low power and high QoS. Our highly integrated SoCs allow easy migration from EPON and GPON to 10G-EPON.”

PMC’s 10G-EPON solution complies with IEEE 802.3av and China carrier specifications and is targeted at Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH), Fiber-To-The-Curb (FTTC) and Fiber-To-The-Building (FTTB) applications. All devices feature PMC’s field-proven GigaPASS™ architecture that achieves up to 10 gigabit data rates, and is already deployed in more than 20 million PON devices worldwide.

10G-EPON ONU key features
PMC’s PAS9000 family includes the PAS9301 asymmetric ONU and the PAS9401 asymmetric and symmetric ONU. The devices include a 10G-EPON MAC, SERDES, powerful embedded controller and GigaPASS bridge for advanced classification, queuing and filtering (see figure 1). An integrated programmable networking engine provides enhanced Quality of Service (QoS) that complies with China Telecom specification version 3.0, including IPv6 protocol support.

PMC’s scalable User Network Interface is configurable to up to four GbE interfaces, up to four 2.5Gb/s interfaces, or to a 10 Gb/s interface for Single Family Unit (see figure 2) or Multiple Dwelling Unit (see figure 3) applications. The devices include mobile-backhaul-over-EPON support with integrated Synchronous Ethernet and Time of Day delivery, as well as wire-speed throughput at all packet sizes, queuing, filtering and advanced QoS, Ethernet connection to an external processor.

The solutions re-use PMC’s widely-deployed EPON software packages, including the ONU software package, which is common for EPON and 10G-EPON ONUs, to preserve OEM investment and reduce time-to-market. PMC software supports low-footprint OS and Linux, featuring a 10G EPON protocol stack and networking drivers, IEEE 802.3av OAM protocol with operator-specific stacks and integrated peripheral drivers.

10G-EPON OLT key features
PMC’s previously announced PAS8000 OLT devices integrate the most advanced fiber access capabilities on the market. An integrated traffic manager enables carriers to deliver new services to more subscribers. A complete, always-on toolkit for optical network and ONU inspection, consisting of an Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) and Upstream Signal Analyzer, enables carriers to test outdoor fiber-optics lines while in service, preserving network uptime and providing significant OPEX and CAPEX savings.