Today’s network planners have concluded that traditional network planning and management options for fiber broadband builds simply won’t work for the future. In terms of network architecture, next-gen 10G PON is sure to become the standard in delivering on the capacity and reliability needed to meet bandwidth demands today and in the years ahead. Likewise, proactive management of customer experience by leveraging today’s best subscriber solutions will be key to the overall quality and success of the network. Municipalities looking to invest in fiber projects for their communities will do well to keep these important network recommendations in mind.
Despite the tremendous innovation in FTTP networks over the last decade, growing bandwidth demands from households and enterprise business applications are likely to exceed today’s GPON network capacity levels in the near future. Network traffic is expected to grow by an order of magnitude over the coming decade, in part because more high-bandwidth applications will become commonplace. These include consumption of 4K and 360-degree video, augmented reality and virtual reality immersive applications, data-heavy cloud services, internet of things traffic and autonomous vehicle usage, to name just a few.
Clearly, municipal network planners can expect to see the demand for broadband continue unabated for the foreseeable future. Operators face the daunting challenge of figuring out how to “feed the beast” and address the requirements of countless emerging technologies and applications without their networks becoming obsolete.
Next-generation 10 Gbps PON network architectures offer the ability to support current service needs and scale economically as needed to address multigigabit bandwidth demands well into the future. The primary value of 10G technologies lies in capacity. For a municipal utility looking to better manage smart-grid applications through communications network advancements, a next-gen 10G network architecture offers an optimal path to servicing public power demands and providing symmetrical 10 Gbps service for residential subscribers, business customers and mobile backhaul services, all over a single, common infrastructure.
Compared with today’s requirement of building separate networks for utility, residential, business and cellular customers, converging all services onto a single network delivers greater flexibility and reliability, creates substantial savings in capital expenditure for deploying the network and curtails operating expenses for managing it. Moreover, with costs only marginally greater than today’s GPON technologies, an investment in a 10G PON architecture allows municipal network operators to maintain competitive price points on services, enabling greater business and residential adoption throughout the community. More.