Communication Solutions

Nortel (News - Alert) and LG-Nortel will launch a new Ethernet Access solution to help service providers prevent network traffic jams. This new solution will allow faster and reliable delivery of data between high-speed core networks and individual user access points. The Ethernet Access technology was developed by LG-Nortel, a joint venture of LG Electronics (News - Alert) and Nortel.

 

Nortel's Ethernet Access solution is the first in the industry to use Wave Division Multiplexing Passive Optical Network (WDM-PON) architecture and is designed to lower the first mile network traffic jams usually caused by bandwidth-hungry applications such as HD video.

 

Backed by this technology, it is possible to divide a single optical fiber into multiple wavelengths, each capable of carrying the same bandwidth that previously required an entire fiber. This approach powers the Internet to ultra-fast speeds to the first mile by giving each user their own wavelength delivering dedicated bandwidth straight to their home or business.

 

Nortel's Ethernet Access solution offers users more security over connections which are always available, and never stalled or slowed down by other traffic on the network. Service providers get future benefits with a foundation for moving forward, starting with speeds of 100 Mbps and easily scalable to add more bandwidth for future needs without having to change the infrastructure.

 

"Think of the network's bandwidth traffic as millions of cars on an ultra-fast highway," said Peter MacKinnon, president and chairman, LG-Nortel. "Today, many 'cars' get stuck in traffic jams on access ramps as they travel that first mile to enter the highway or as they travel to their final destination. Nortel's Ethernet Access solution gives each car its own off and on ramp by dedicating a single wavelength for each user. The solution is fast and secure because it is not shared with anyone else."

 

"Service providers are seeking more utility out of their deep-fiber access networks," said Michael Howard, Infonetics Research (News - Alert).

 

"PON systems can do this, however, today's PON systems share bandwidth among many users and thus have painful bandwidth constrictions, whereas a WDM-PON can serve up 10 to 20 times the capacity with a dedicated wavelength to each destination, whether to home, building, or DSLAM. Consumers want a super-fast broadband network that can download music in seconds and movies in minutes, and carriers want backhaul facilities to carry residential and business traffic. Service providers can solve these problems with a simple, point-to-point Ethernet WDM-PON to meet the ever-growing demands for bandwidth from their customers."

 

With Nortel's WDM-PON Ethernet Access solution operators get a competitive edge over those using other PON technologies by accelerating the deployment of fiber-to-the-home and fiber-to-the-building with a simple engineering and deployment model. The symmetrical network performance enables the solution to support multimedia applications like video-calling due to similar upload and download speeds. This allows operators to offer innovative new services that could result in increased Average Revenue Per User and greater customer loyalty.