First Mile Access Networks and Enabling Technologies

Network Profiling for Passive Optical Networks

In the preceding section we identified passive optical networking as the key to high-bandwidth delivery to the end user. The sudden growth (and later stagnation) of WDM networking led to a void in the access area. The access area needed high-speed bandwidth, at a low cost, and needed to be able to provide reliable connection through a robust management platform. Fiber seemed to be the choice of many for providing the high-speed links to the end users. However, the cost of optical-to-electronic interfaces at end-user premises was the inhibiting factor for the industry, slowing deployment of fiber-based networks in the access area. In the mid-1990s, universities in North America proposed a low-cost ...