G vs. E

It wasn't all that long ago that vendors of Ethernet-based fiber access equipment loudly and proudly claimed superiority over more popular ATM-based BPON (sometimes grabbing the front of my shirt) by virtue of Ethernet's lower cost per bit.

Though Ethernet-based FTTP represented about half of all the domestic FTTP deployments at of the beginning of this year, much of the Ethernet stuff was deployed by municipalities, while most carrier deployments were BPON. The question that surfaced at some point was whether (or how quickly) GPON would take the sizzle out of those EPON vendors' claims.

The recent addition of GPON to the portfolio of EPON equipment vendor Wave7 seems a sort of acknowledgment from the EPON camp of the importance of GPON, at least on this continent, but not a capitulation.

GPON got a good kick in the pants when Alcatel unveiled its own version of the stuff earlier this year, leaps ahead of its competitor, Tellabs. Before Alcatel, GPON was essentially the province of two vendors, Optical Solutions and FlexLight. Though Optical Solutions seems to have milked every bit of its head start, FlexLight hasn't shown nearly as much momentum, having recently named its third CEO this year.

Though GPON is gaining ground in the U.S., there's not much gloating to be done over Ethernet, since access networks everywhere are increasingly and inevitably migrating toward it in one form or another. And unlike GPON, Ethernet is headed for far more than just access networks.

E-mail me at egubbins@primediabusiness.com.