Short Courses

SC114 Passive Optical Networks (PONs)

Sunday, February 24, 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Paul W. Shumate; IEEE Lasers & Electro-Optics Society, USA

Level: Advanced Beginner (basic understanding of topic is necessary to follow course material)

Course Description
PON equipment is entering the $1B+ market, confirming its ever-growing role in broadband-access network strategies. It is important to understand the pros and cons of these networks, particularly what advantages they offer over active alternatives. This includes knowing the tradeoffs among the three most common PONs: GPONs (“gigabit” PONs which use a protocol evolved from ATM, the Asynchronous Transfer Mode), EPONs (“Ethernet” PONs which use a modified Ethernet protocol), and WDM-PONs (“wavelength-division multiplexed” PONs which multiplex different customers according to optical wavelength). All three, as well as other versions of PONs, can deliver today’s triple-play services over a single, low-maintenance, future-proof network. This course examines and compares PON architectures, their transport protocols, their evolution to meet future needs, and CAPEX and OPEX considerations.

Benefits and Learning Objectives
This course should enable you to:

• Understand and discuss the differences among the major types of PONs.
• Be able to describe the relative pros and cons of ATM/GEM vs. Ethernet for broadband access.
• Be able to explain the motivations behind the Full-Service-Access-Network and Ethernet-in-the-First-Mile initiatives.
• Understand the relative importance of operations expenses (OPEX) compared with capital expenses (CAPEX).

Intended Audience
Engineers, network planners, and product designers involved with broadband access and a need to understand passive optical networks.

Instructor Biography
Paul Shumate most recently was executive director of the IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society, and was formerly chief scientist and assistant general manager at Telcordia Technologies. He is a leading industry proponent of advanced lightwave technologies, including fiber-to-the-home, for delivering broadband services to residences and small businesses. A Bellcore Fellow, a Fellow of the IEEE, and a member of the Optical Society of America, he has also received the Telephony Vision Award and the IEEE Edwin H. Armstrong Award for his fiber-in-the-loop contributions. His research interests include optical networks, lightwave devices, systems, reliability and business modeling.