ARCHITECTURE DEBATE MOVES TO VIDEO

If the three RBOCs that last year released their massive RFP for fiber-to-the-premises build outs have the intention of providing next-gen video services, the initial push will have a decidedly plain vanilla look to it.

In Verizon’s RFP, according to several vendors, the video element of the triple play service the company is launching will come via a traditional RF overlay. Indeed, one of the reasons for choosing a passive optical network is because carriers have the option of providing what looks like simple broadcast video services, said Sayeed Rashid, senior marketing manager access networks division of Alcatel.

“It looks very much like a cable architecture except you’ve got a fiber plant in the middle which offers significant better performance than [hybrid fiber coax],” he said.

Under one possible scenario, video could be segmented to the 1550 nm wavelength while data is put on the 1490 nm wavelength. At the customer premises, video is transmitted over the existing coax in the home using analog RF.

You don’t even need a set box if you want to deliver just analog,” Rashid said. “Significant portions of customers don’t care about digital TV.”

And while PON gives carriers the option of providing everything in an IP format, vendors pushing active Ethernet solutions say providing analog video over fiber-based architectures makes no sense. Under their preferred architecture, video and data traffic is mixed together in the IP stream and separated at the customer’s home.

“To deliver analog signals is a step backward,” said Sathya Narayanaswamy, director of product marketing for Riverstone Networks. “Everyone wants to deliver digital and in IP format.”

As carriers in fact move into value-added video services and layer more channels on top of their initial lineups, the move may be inevitable, according to several vendors.

“If you look at the bandwidth that utilizes 50 channels and VOD, a BPON would be sufficient,” Aviv Ronai, associate vice president of ECI's Broadband Access Division. “If you’re talking 200 channels that’s not the case.”