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By: Tatiane Figueiredo – Technical Training Instructor

Ensuring high-quality connectivity for customers is a notable challenge for the enterprise and integration sectors. Network administrators are faced with fundamental questions: "How can I increase speed for users?", "How can I ensure stable service delivery and efficiently integrate wired and wireless networks?", "How can I reduce OPEX and CAPEX?" and "How to reduce technical support calls?". For those looking for solutions that meet sustainability, economy, efficient operation, scalability, and low maintenance, this article may be of interest. We invite you to explore how implementing a passive GPON network can revolutionize your connectivity by optimizing resources and increasing network efficiency.

Optical Fiber in Companies:

Technologies that make it possible to deliver connectivity via fiber optics gain a prominent place in market options. If you can reach the workstation, even better, right?

Optical fiber has established itself as an access option within the corporate environment. That's right! Traditional Ethernet networks have given way to passive optical networks, called POL – Passive Optical LAN.

This adoption depends on some factors, from the form of installation and operation, cost and breaking paradigms, even because optical networks are consolidated in the means of transport and in the delivery of residential services carried out by Internet Providers and Telecommunications Operators, but still are taboo on local networks. Bringing this external perspective into structures such as financial companies, school environments, government agencies, hospitals and clinics, hotels and leisure enterprises, as well as industries or service environments for airlines and automobiles, is a niche to be explored.

Until proven otherwise, fiber optics is a future-proof technology that adapts to the most diverse scenarios. The major changes are transferred to the assets, which require periodic upgrades, the infrastructure has a long lifespan, even in specialized articles they talk about something around 30 years.

Technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, and more and more new and complex applications are emerging for remote use. We no longer just need internet access, but an accurate and effective connectivity system. Imagine a doctor performing a remote operation, using cameras and millimeter movements and in the next room, a patient is distracted using his cell phone to watch a movie. And the nurse, calling your house informing you that you will be a little late using your voice app on your cell phone. The reception attendant uploads several exams. Interesting, do you agree?

Within the environment of a LAN network, we have services such as data, voice, video, camera monitoring, automation systems, backup routines, wired and wireless access, as well as a whole range of devices and sensors that facilitate business management. .

This is why PON technology – Passive Optical Network is gaining visibility. Through a single medium, optical fiber, it is possible to deliver various services and applications with quality equal to or greater than that of the traditional medium, Ethernet, which in many environments still depends on metallic cables and switches that are not manageable or have limited resources.

The technology behind POL: GPON in Services Provider

Changing the angle of view a little, we have IT teams, network administrators and integrators, who, in addition to analyzing the services delivered, are concerned with active devices, cabling, labor, qualifications and possible sources that could generate noise and degrade communication. Not to mention the issue of uplinks between network assets, which in a POL structure can deliver to the end user, through a single physical medium, 1Gb, 2.5Gb or even 10Gb, while for uplinks, there are 25Gb, 40Gb and 100Gb.

PON technology is made up of an optical network, generally point-multipoint, built using passive dividers, which aims to branch the network, being:

• ONU or ONT (Optical Network Unit/Terminal): End user access equipment;
• OLT (Optical Line Terminal): Active equipment located in the core or distribution/aggregation layer of the LAN network, with the objective of concentrating and distributing traffic coming from the ONUs, in addition to allowing the configuration of services and bandwidth control for each service profile;
• Splitter: Passive component that divides the optical signal, allowing the medium to be shared with more users. The signal can be divided in a balanced way in the ratios of 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64 ports that deliver the same signal power or in an unbalanced way, where the output divides in different proportions, according to the ratio, for example, 45/55, 40/60, 30/70 and so on.

The POL solution utilizes the benefits of GPON – Gigabit Passive Optical Network and XGS-PON – 10 Gigabit-Capable Symmetric Passive Optical Network technologies to improve the availability and reliability of LAN networks, while reducing CAPEX (capital expenditure – investment) and OPEX (operating expenses).

PON networks work with fewer network assets in the structure and allow the fiber to reach the user's work desk, whether indoors or even 20 km away between assets. It brings great benefits in terms of security due to native encryption, not to mention that it requires specific equipment to capture packets. Another sensational advantage is that the infrastructure is passive, meaning there is no energy consumption.

Addressing PON technology, the most current are GPON with 2.5G downstream and 1.25G upstream, standardized by ITU-T G.984 and XGS-PON, with 10G downstream and upstream (symmetric), also by ITU-T G.9807.

The main differences are shown in the table below.

Advantages of Implementing POL

The advantages of using POL are present in all phases, starting with network planning, cabling and equipment implementation, operation and maintenance. Some examples can be seen below.

• Space: With fewer devices in their construction, they take up less space in data centers and eliminate the need for cabinets and racks in the infrastructure design, which generates a significant impact on the project cost. If we think about a service of 512 points, we will have a reduction equivalent to 10 pieces of equipment.

• Energy consumption: They consume less energy, as it is a topology composed of passive elements that do not require power. The need for UPS and batteries to maintain minimum autonomy is reduced compared to a large number of switches. The refrigeration process is also reduced due to its lower energy consumption and passive items do not need to be in a technical room or rack.

• Temperature: One of the characteristics of the equipment present in the POL network is that it operates in places with the highest operating temperature, such as in outdoor cabinets/racks or in a shelter. Additionally, there are GPON and XGS-PON modules for extended temperatures, facilitating and operationalizing this type of topology.
• Infrastructure Optimization: Copper cabling is much heavier compared to optical fiber, which requires more robust suspension mechanisms. The inputs for optical cabling are lighter and smaller.

• Immunity to external interference: Optical fiber is immune to electromagnetic interference, noise and atmospheric electrical discharges due to its constitution being made of dielectric materials, which are considered an excellent option for use in industrial environments and manufacturing parks. If a rupture occurs, there are no sparks or risks of short circuits that could harm the integrity of people and the environment.
• Manageable assets: The figure below shows the topological hierarchy of a traditional LAN and a POL, comparing their layers. It can be seen that the Core remains in both topologies, after all its function is to receive all Ethernet traffic from users and carry out the appropriate treatment and forwarding of packets. The hierarchical layers of distribution, aggregation and access have a different composition than the traditional one. Network management and control is centralized in the OLT, which receives traffic from the Core and forwards it to the POL network, until it reaches the users, who are connected to the ONUs.

• Range: Compared to a metallic cabling network that does not exceed 100 meters per access point, the POL network supports much greater distances. It can cover up to 20 km, without the use of active equipment, with immunity to interference.
• Speed ​​and Quality of Service: GPON technology offers 2.5G downstream in the OLT direction to the ONU and 1.25G in the upstream direction on a single shared medium, allocating the bandwidth as desired by the network administrator. In XGS-PON, delivery is symmetrical at 10G. It is possible to carry out all traffic segmentation, in addition to prioritizing the most essential services or even those sensitive to latency such as voice.
• Security: Native encryption, making the network more secure than networks that use encryption only at the session layers.
• Update/Upgrade: The firmware update procedure is something that causes concern for technicians and network administrators. With the operation of an OLT, the criticality of the update is reduced, since the network is segmented and the unavailability time due to reboot is shorter. Another point is the reduction in the need to update the cabling infrastructure and with the evolution of technology, only the assets will be replaced, the optical fiber will continue to be the same.
• Network Segmentation: Building and planning a LAN topology with PON technology brings the IT team greater reliability of services and its own network. The use of layer 2 resources and protocols such as Rapid Spanning-Tree and EAPS – Ethernet Automatic Protection Switching guarantee redundancy and rapid convergence of applications made available to users. Not to mention, it is possible to have a network design with routing and even MPLS for delivering services between larger networks, all in a single device.
• Management: The use of PON solutions allows for centralized management through graphical platforms and, depending on the manufacturer, even free of charge. This system aims to simplify management activities so that the operator can respond more quickly to possible problems, including avoiding the need to send a technician to the site. Changing settings is also a benefit that the platforms have, in addition to all alarm management.

Conclusion:

The POL network is characterized by a high availability infrastructure, which serves low and high density solutions, built under an easy-to-manage network architecture concept that allows the unification of various services and low maintenance.
From a technical aspect, it simplifies future expansions and is limited only to technology in terms of distance and bandwidth, in accordance with ITU-T recommendations. This way, as soon as the network grows, only the ends will need to be expanded.

To conclude the article on the advantages of PON LAN technology, we highlight Datacom's broad portfolio of GPON equipment, suitable for various applications. We offer a variety of GPON and XGS-PON OLTs, which adapt to different port number needs, as well as ONUs with multiple functionalities, such as bridge, WiFi router, FXS and PoE. Among the highlighted products, the ONU DM986-400P is especially notable. Equipped with four Gigabit Ethernet ports that support PoE (802.3af) and PoE+ (802.3at), this ONU can provide up to 120W of total power, enabling direct power supply to devices such as IP Phones, CCTV Cameras and Access Points. Learn more about the ONU DM986-400P and its capabilities at the link.

In addition to the equipment, Datacom offers DmView, an integrated network management platform that facilitates the control and administration of communication infrastructures in an efficient and centralized manner. Complementing our offer, we provide comprehensive technical support, including a repository of documentation, guides, firmware, and the possibility of opening tickets directly with our technical team. We also offer free training, accessible through the Datacom EAD portal.

With these resources, Datacom positions itself as a reliable and innovative partner in providing PON LAN connectivity solutions, ready to meet the needs of modern communications infrastructure.