Verizon FiOS tech heading to enterprises
Claims new high-speed optical networks slash floor space, electricity needs
By
Carolyn Duffy Marsan
,
Network World
, 05/30/2008
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Verizon Business has quietly developed an enterprise version of its popular residential FiOS high-speed Internet service that could save companies a bundle on energy costs.
The corporate grade "service," initially designed for the U.S. military, involves installing the same passive optical network
(PON) gear used for FiOS in office buildings and corporate campuses (it's unclear yet whether the offering will also one day
be delivered as a managed service). It will be marketed to federal, corporate and university customers beginning in 2009,
Verizon officials say. Ideal customers are those with high bandwidth demands, such as for sharing CAD drawings, streaming
video or real-time workgroup collaboration.
The first installation is in a new, four-story office building in Annapolis Junction, Md., that was designed for military contractors and will be ready for occupancy in September. Verizon has been working with systems
integrator Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) for two years to develop the PON offering. Verizon is a subcontractor to SAIC for the network inside the new Washington, D.C.-area office building.
Both companies plan to sell the PON system, which supports familiar network protocols such as Gigabit Ethernet. Verizon calls
its new corporate-grade product Converged Fiber-to-the-Desktop (CFttD), while SAIC has dubbed its version Secure Converged
Solutions (SCS).
Both new products are based on the same Fiber-To-The-Premises (FTTP) technology as FiOS, which is what Verizon calls its
residential broadband service that offers Internet, telephone and TV service sent over a fiber-optic network. On April 28,
Verizon reported a total of 1.8 million FiOS Internet customers and 1.2 million FiOS TV customers.
The new fiber-to-the-desktop offering sounds too good to be true. Verizon officials say it cuts floor space and electricity
usage in office buildings by as much as 95% compared to traditional copper networks. It requires half the upfront equipment
investment and installation time, and it promises easier ongoing operation and maintenance because it has fewer moving parts,
they say.
``The nice thing about a passive optical network is that the fiber sits in there and it has tons of excess capability for
your future. It can support you even if the equipment on either end changes over time,’’ says Ed Hill, director of technology
and operations for Verizon Business’ Federal Network Systems.
Industry watchers say the offering sounds promising.
``The ability to reduce power constraints in wiring closets with PON is a definite plus of the technology,” says Phil Hochmuth,
senior analyst with Yankee Group. “It's an exact reversal of the trends going on in wiring closets in enterprises over the
last few years. More power and more heat are going into places that were never meant for that much power. A wiring closet
in some enterprises consumes as much power and generates as much heat as a small data center did 10 years ago.''
Military roots
Verizon says it came up with Converged Fiber-to-the-Desktop to meet the demands of the U.S. Defense Department, which is struggling
with base realignment, tight IT budgets and maxed-out power grids.
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Comments (8)
Drilling down on Verizon and SAIC's new offeringsBy Alpha Doggs on May 30, 2008, 4:05 pmNW's Carolyn Duffy Marsan posed a couple of more technical questions to SAIC spokeswoman Melissa Koskovich on the new offerings: Marsan: Does Ethernet run...
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It's about time FTTD is being addressed (again)!By Frank A. Coluccio on May 31, 2008, 2:46 amGreat article. Bravo! The principals, however, have only begun to describe the extent of disruption that will undoubtedly result from neutralizing the LAN/MAN diameter...
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BandwidthBy Anonymous on June 3, 2008, 9:42 amYet another PON's article that doesn't explain that the bandwidth is essentially shared. 2.4Gig sounds like a lot, but if you're sharing it between 32 ONT's, you're...
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Real WorldBy Jack Harris on June 3, 2008, 3:38 pmWhile true the fact that 2.4Gbps is shared download bandwidth for 32 users, real-world data suggests that never is the case. Access users seldom if ever decide...
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There is no rule that says the bandwidth need be shared among 32By Anonymous on June 10, 2008, 12:40 pmThere is no rule that says the bandwidth need be shared among 32 users. Splitter configuration can be implemented on a smaller scale as well as ports being un-terminated.
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> There is no rule that saysBy Anon on June 23, 2008, 7:44 am> There is no rule that says the bandwidth need be > shared among 32 users. Splitter configuration can > be implemented on a smaller scale as well as > ports...
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