Zhone aims for smarter GPON

Zhone Technologies today unveiled the gigabit passive optical networking (GPON) system it has been promising since the beginning of the year.

The new GPON line card for Zhone’s MALC broadband loop carrier system delivers 2.5 Gb/s downstream and 1.2 Mb/s upstream to up to 64 subscribers per card, in accordance with industry standards.

But Zhone aims to differentiate its system with the intelligence of its customer premises product, the zNID optical network terminal (ONT). It uses Layer 3 functionality to allow remote management of the device based on the DSL Forum’s TR-069 standard for DSL management. “Deploying GPON should be as easy as deploying DSL today,” said Eric Presworsky, Zhone’s vice president of product management and advanced technology, who called TR-069 a “tried and true” technology for broadband management.

The intelligence of Zhone’s ONT will allow carriers to remotely diagnose the system, which logs information on recent calls and channel changes as well as environmental conditions such as temperature, the vendor said. It also provides firewall protection and virtual private networking.

In addition to including three Ethernet ports, the ONT is also based on HomePNA3, the technology that allows broadband to be delivered throughout the home using existing twisted copper phone lines and coaxial cable. Installers would connect phone lines and coaxial cable to the ONT on the side of the house—the coax to carry IPTV and other data and the phone line to carry traditional phone service and power as well as data. As for MoCA, the technology that Verizon has used to employ its customers’ existing coax, Presworsky said, “It looks like HomePNA has a big advantage. We heard a lot of negative [things about] MoCA--interference with other RF signals.”

Zhone’s ONT also includes options for pre-spliced and pre-tapped fiber with enclosures to protect the terminating fiber between deployment and service activation.

The company announced three customers today for the new GPON system, which is now generally available: Consolidated Communications, Taylor Telecom Cooperative and Yadkin Valley Telecom.