Next-Gen PON: An interview with BT

An interview with Peter Bell, Access Platform Director, BT Innovate & Design on next generation passive optical networks (PONs). These include 10 Gigabit Ethernet PON (EPON) and Gigabit PON (GPON) and wavelength division multiplexing PON (WDM-PON).

Peter Bell, Access Platform Director, BT Innovate & Design

Q: The status of 10 Gigabit PON – 10G EPON and 10G GPON (XG-PON): Applications, where it will be likely be used, and why is it needed?

PB: IEEE 10G EPON: BT not directly involved but we have been tracking it and believe the standard is close to completion  (gazettabyte: The standard was ratified in September 2009.)

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BroadLight awarded a dynamic bandwidth allocation patent

Event:

Passive optical networking (PON) chip company, Broadlight, has been awarded a patent by the US Patent Office entitled: ‘Method and grant scheduler for cyclically allocating time slots to optical network units’. 

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OneChip solution for Fibre-To-The-Home

Jim Hjartarson, CEO of OneChip PhotonicsAn interview with Jim Hjartarson, CEO of OneChip Photonics

Q. In March 2009, OneChip raised $19.5m. How difficult is it nowadays for an optical component firm to receive venture capital funding?

A. Clearly, the venture capital community, given the current macroeconomic environment, is being selective about the new investments it makes in the technology market in general, and photonics in particular.

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Cloud computing: where telecoms and IT collide

IT directors worldwide are considering whether it makes financial sense to move their computing resources offsite into the 'cloud'. Roy Rubenstein assesses the potential opportunities for network operators and equipment vendors.

Cloud computing is the latest industry attempt to merge computing with networking. While previous efforts have all failed, the gathering evidence suggests that cloud computing may have got things right this time. Indeed it is set to have a marked effect on how enterprises do business, while driving the growth of network traffic and new switch architectures for the data centre.

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