In order to alleviate the first mile bottleneck growing between high capacity LAN/
enterprise networks and multi-wavelength (DWDM) MAN/WAN structures, the PON
networks target the economic ???sweet spot??? between T1s and OC-3S links that other
access network technologies do not adequately address. By promising high-speed
Internet access at a reasonable price, PONs bring the vision of a fully digital home one
step closer to becoming a reality. There are a number of available PON-based access
network solutions, namely broadband PON (BPON), Gigabit capable PON (GPON),
asynchronous transfer mode PON (APON), and Ethernet PON (EPON), to name the
most important ones. Attempts have also been made to integrate SONET-based solutions
with the PON technology, but so far this technology mix has not proven to be
cost-effective and present any advantages over other available PON systems. Despite
the number of existing technological options, there are only two main competitors for
actual deployment, namely BPONs (and more precisely GPONs, which also support ATM
transmission and are based on a more modern standard than BPON) and EPONs.
Asynchronous transfer mode PONs (APONs) were developed in the mid-1990s
through the work of the full-service access network (FSAN) initiative, composed of
20 large carriers working together with their strategic equipment suppliers to agree
upon a common broadband access system for the provisioning of both broadband and
narrowband services and to develop standards for designing the cheapest, fastest way
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to extend emerging high-speed services, such as internet protocol (IP) data, video, and
10/100 Mbps Ethernet, over fiber to residential and business customers worldwide.
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