IEEE ComSoc Technology Blog

Nokia has unveiled what it boldly claims is the “most advanced fiber broadband platform in the world,” one it’s calling the “fiber-for-everything” world. According to the vendor, the new Lightspan MF-14 platform extends the upper reaches of its fiber broadband range, bringing “unmatched” capacity, low latency, intelligence, reliability and efficiency. The platform, which falls into “Generation 6” of such things, is already being tried out by customers looking to build 25Gbit/s-capable network in Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region. Lightspan MF-14 is being premiered at the Network X event in Amsterdam  from 18 to 20 October.

The industry is entering a ‘fiber-for-everything’ era. Once operators have deployed fiber-to-the-home, their networks pass every other building in the street, as well as the homes, meaning they can connect businesses and other services. Fiber PON will be capable of supporting high bandwidth consumer services, industry 4.0 applications, business connectivity, 5G transport and smart city services. This creates more revenue opportunities, lowers TCO and significantly reduces overall power consumption. This new broadband era, designated Broadband 6 by the World Broadband Association (WBBA), requires a new technical solution. Nokia’s pioneering Lightspan MF-14 is the first Gen 6 optical line terminal (OLT) in the world and has already been selected by customers building 25 Gb/second capable networks in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.

Geert Heyninck, Nokia’s VP Broadband Networks, said: “Fiber-to-the-home is becoming fiber-for-everything. This is enabled by several technology advances, most notably higher speed PON technologies to accommodate all new services, and SDN to bring more intelligence in the network. If you think about it, the massive number of connection points on fiber make it a challenge to get an instant view of everything that happens in your network, fully automate network control, and perform actions with no service interruption. Our current portfolio is doing an excellent job in supporting many of these requirements for today’s and tomorrow’s services, but we are looking ahead. The MF-14 platform will suit operators who are planning large scale 25G PON, 50G and even 100G PON within the same environment.”

In his recent report* Erik Keith, Senior Research Analyst for Broadband Infrastructure at S&P Global, says: “The PON market is at a pivotal moment in the evolution of networks, where fiber broadband means so much more than residential connectivity. There is a huge opportunity for service providers to connect everything much more efficiently by leveraging their existing fiber broadband networks. After all, the same fiber cables that were originally laid in residential areas also pass commercial buildings such as office blocks, hospitals and government properties. This approach eliminates multiple overlay networks, minimizes digging up the streets, and lowers energy use substantially. The new Lightspan MF-14 OLT can enable operators to deploy a solution that will last for decades, while providing a platform that can increase network performance exponentially compared to most networks in use today.”

Based on new, advanced hardware and disaggregated software design, MF-14 is a generation leap in fiber access solutions. It is the highest capacity platform in the industry and the only solution ready for mass delivery of 25G, 50G and 100G PON services. It’s also the industry’s first OLT with the six-nines availability and sub-millisecond latency needed for mission critical industry 4.0 and 5G transport services.

Frontier Communications, the first in the U.S. to trial 25G PON, is also the first to evaluate MF-14 in its live network. Frontier’s Scott Mispagel, SVP National Architecture and Engineering, said: “We are proud to be the first to embrace this next-generation platform. This is another way for us to provide customers with the fastest broadband available. The MF-14 platform will support our path to 100G using our existing fiber network and future-proof our network with speeds that will continue to outpace cable and other technologies for generations to come.”

Nokia Lightspan MF-14

In July this year CityFibre – the UK’s largest independent full fibre infrastructure platform – signed a 10-year equipment agreement to support its nationwide network upgrade. John Franklin, CTIO, CityFibre said: “As we accelerate our full fibre rollout to serve a third of the UK market by 2025, the demand placed on those networks will also accelerate. MF-14’s flexibility and capacity will help us to meet the needs of our partner’s and their customers for generations to come.”

* From “Nokia launches 6th generation flagship fiber platform” published by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Resources
Lightspan MF-14, a generation leap in fiber access solutions

• 4x higher capacity than previous generation, ensures smooth evolution to massive connectivity with 25, 50, 100.
• No single point of failures, ensuring the highest availability (six nines) in the market. This is important because consumers and business depend on broadband non-stop
• Sub millisecond latency for 5G transport and new array of industry 4.0 applications
• 20% higher power efficiency than the industry average so operators can decrease overall power consumption as they connect more points on fiber network and meet sustainability targets
• Modular software architecture for more agility for upgrading software and onboarding of new functionality, with much less effort and time.
• SDN programmability and open APIs to enable control function by Nokia or 3^rd party network control functions
• Fast telemetry and digital mirror in the cloud for enhanced network overview
• For more details visit the web page

Fiber for everything         website

World Broadband Association (WBBA) BB6 network characteristics, published in Next-Generation Broadband Roadmap white paper, Oct 2022

• Residential speed. Up to 50Gbps *
• Enterprise speed. Up to 1.6–3.2Tbps
• Intelligence. Fully autonomous
• Reliability & latency. Deterministic reliability / <1ms latency (hard guarantee) / very low jitter
• Trustworthy & green. 10×-plus better per bit energy efficient, very fast problem detection and response (seconds)
• Connectivity. Fiber sensors, 10 times more IoT terminals
• Sensing Capability. Fiber sensing for applications, application and computing awareness, AI

*Speeds listed are speculative given the timeframe, and further work by the WBBA will explore this in more detail in future reports.