The IEEE last week ratified a standard for 10 Gbps Ethernet Passive Optical Networks, or 10G EPON. The 802.3av standard builds on 802.3ah to deliver fiber-to-the-home networks.
The difference with the new standard is the upper limit of 10 Gbps, up from 1 Gbps in 802.3ah. Supported are both symmetric 10 Gbps speeds and asymmetric speeds of 10 Gbps downstream and 1 Gbps upstream. The new standard is expected to start deployment next year.
The specification is intended for carriers that are looking for a method to backhaul large quantities of IPTV, VoIP and cellular traffic. Already, the lower-speed EPON has been deployed to more than 30 million subscribers, according to the companies announcing the new standard. They also point out that the new version allows the carriers to introduce 10G EPON without replacing any 1Gbps EPON customer equipment that may already be deployed, making upgrades easier.
More than 40 companies declared their support for 802.2av, from Alloptic to Huawei to PMC-Sierra. Industry associations such as the Ethernet Alliance also endorse the standard.
The IEEE has been working on this standard for about three years. I wrote about the beginnings of the standards work then, you see, and now I’m bookending it. The effort arose out of a need to deliver high-speed services to multi-tenant buildings, where many subscribers could be served.
It was a good week for finalizing Ethernet standards, with the 802.11n high-speed wireless LAN standard also receiving ratification last week.
