The News: Cisco Routed PON debuts aimed at enabling agile, differentiated broadband services and transforming the economics of superfast broadband through a software-defined broadband network. Read the full blog on the Cisco website.
OFC 2024: Cisco Routed PON Debuts Uplifting Broadband Economics
Analyst Take: Cisco Routed PON debuts as an integral part of Cisco’s mission to transform the economics of networking for the benefit of communications service providers (CSPs) and communities globally. Routed PON is designed to significantly improve the cost of broadband deployment across rural, suburban, and urban areas, to assist in expanding the delivery of high-performance, higher bandwidth connectivity to business and residential customers, especially as broadband services scale to support bandwidth-intensive applications such as AI and generative AI workloads.
The solution involves integrating the Cisco PON pluggable OLT into the 10G Ethernet ports found on the Cisco NCS 540, NCS 5500, and NCS 5700 routers. The PON manager and its corresponding database are hosted on either an external system or specialized hardware, which can be located within the core network infrastructure or hosted on a cloud platform. The PON controller establishes a protected link facilitating the exchange of data between the PON manager and the network’s OLTs and ONUs.
Plus, the solution provides a network infrastructure that supports future upgrades, enabling a transition from a 10G pluggable OLT to a 25G variant when it becomes available. As it uses passive devices, it does not require an extra power supply, leading to lower overall power consumption in the network.
Fundamentally, Cisco Routed PON is designed to liberate CSPs and municipalities from traditional chassis-based solutions. Cisco Routed PON enables customers to deploy a compact form factor PON pluggable in a router and converge FTTx access with their overall network. The Cisco solution has three building blocks, underpinned by a software-defined architecture based on the IOS XR operating system. The three building blocks consist of Cisco Routed PON OLT Pluggable, Cisco Routed PON Controller, and Cisco Routed PON Manager.
Specifically, the Cisco Routed PON OLT Pluggable is a 10G OLT that can replace traditional standalone OLT chassis and connects the PON network to L3 routing and services through a small form factor pluggable (SFP+) port on the router. From my view, the SFP is a power-efficient and more cost-effective way to deliver 10G symmetrical upstream and downstream data.
The offering complies openly with the G.988 ONU management and control interface (OMCI) standard, ensuring the OLT pluggable is compatible with any optical network terminal (ONT). As the transceiver module removes the need of any third-party hardware for OLTs, this capability can aid customers by reducing dependency on third-party vendors and avoid dreaded vendor lock-in scenarios as well as streamline the network infrastructure.
Additional Cisco Routed PON benefits include reducing deployment costs because the cost of the new OLT offering is lower than the traditional OLT chassis. The device is a pluggable transceiver module, so the physical footprint of the network is substantially reduced leading to tangible power savings. Also, the use of the PON Manager to deploy and upgrade the Routed PON solution can save time due to the application of a single point of management.
Cisco Routed PON: The RON Stuff Provides Innovation Foundation
I find that Cisco Routed PON prospects bode well due to Cisco’s pioneering portfolio development breakthrough in Routed Optical Networking (RON). As foreground, RON is part of Cisco’s Converged SDN transport solution, an architecture that prioritizes delivering improved operational simplicity and efficiencies. The solution works by merging Internet Protocol (IP) and private line services into a single layer where all the switching is done at L3. The routers are connected through standardized 400G ZR/ZR+ coherent pluggable optics.
With a single service layer based upon IP, agile management tools use telemetry and model-driven programmability to streamline lifecycle operations. This architecture integrates open data models and standard APIs, enabling CSPs to focus on automation initiatives for a more efficient typology.
Key Takeaways: Cisco Routed PON Ready to Disrupt PON Competitive Landscape
Cisco Routed PON uses the advanced features and capabilities of the Cisco router but also takes advantage of the cost efficiency of PON networks. As such, I find that the Cisco Routed PON solution is poised to disrupt the global PON OLT market, obliging key rivals such as Nokia, Calix, Ciena, ADTRAN, and DZS as well as Huawei and ZTE to respond with portfolio development and sales and marketing moves that directly counter the new Cisco offering.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
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Author Information
Ron is an experienced, customer-focused research expert and analyst, with over 20 years of experience in the digital and IT transformation markets, working with businesses to drive consistent revenue and sales growth.
Ron holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy from University of Nevada — Las Vegas and a Bachelor of Arts in political science/government from William and Mary.
