Source Photonics, a global leader of innovative and reliable optical connectivity products for Access and Datacom applications, announced the availability of its 25G and 50G PON OLT and ONU access solutions at the European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC) – a premier industry exhibition held in Basel, Switzerland during September 19-21, 2022.
With 10G PON deployment well underway, the industry is looking at what will come next. 25G, 50G and even 100G are new being considered as successors to 10G PON by the IEEE, ITU, FSAN, 25GS-PON MSA and other standard bodies. The 25G and 50G PON OLT solutions leverage the latest development on high power optical EML chips and electrical IC chipset, can support downstream speed of up to 50Gbps, and upstream speed of up to 25Gbps, and maximize the reuse of the existing ODN infrastructure. Wavelength plans chosen by the standardization bodies support the two technologies to co-exist on the same fiber.
Based on vertical integration business model, Source Photonics have successfully developed 50G SOA integrated EML at 1342nm and subsequently applied to the design of 50G PON OLT transmitter; and similarly, 25G SOA integrated EMLs at 1358nm have been applied to the design of 25G PON OLT transmitters. Source Photonics has conducted in-depth cooperation with the world’s leading PON equipment manufacturers, and initial product evaluation and qualification for 25G/50G PON OLT samples have been well under way with collaborative ecosystems.
PON is a widely deployed technology, supporting more than 680 million homes around the world, with forecasts of adding 30 million more household per year in next five years. The accumulated OLT/ONU deployments are expected to exceed 1 billion ports. 25G symmetric PON is cost-effective next step and natural evolution for fiber networks, especially since it leverages a large and mature ecosystem of existing optics used by data centers. 50G PONs introduce various new technologies like optical amplification, DSP and soft FEC, and stop to support co-existence of GPON and 10G GPON. 50G PON could next big thing once ecosystem is established maturely in a year or so.
According to Julie Kunstler, Chief Analyst at Omdia stated, “Omdia is forecasting uptake of both 25G PON and 50G PON. Initial deployments of 25G PON are underway, supporting high-end residential, business and enterprise services, xHaul transport, and smart city applications. Omdia is forecasting initial deployments of 50G PON in late 2023. PON technology has been widely deployed around the world by different types of operators, with strategies ranging from FTTH to converged access networks. The PON component and equipment market is robust, supporting a variety of upgrade strategies meeting different operator requirements.”