Secure Passive Optical Networks (PON)
INTERCEPTOR has always made good economic sense in traditional Ethernet LAN architectures, which are often a combination of optical fiber cables and copper cables. Now the application of a complementary and proven technology, Passive Optical Network (PON) – combined with the INTERCEPTOR – offers even greater value.
PON is a point-to-multipoint, fiber-to-the-premises network architecture in which unpowered optical splitters are used to enable a single optical fiber to serve multiple premises. PON solutions are widely deployed with more than 5 million end users served in North America and more than 10 million around the globe.
Verizon’s FiOS – a phone, TV and Internet service offering – operates over a PON architecture. In the past several years, the use of PON technology has been growing among private network operators in both the enterprise and government sectors – and with good reason.
Throughout government agencies, mandates exist for operational efficiencies: a 30% reduction in energy consumption by 2015, reduced contractor outsourcing, green building standards including LEED accreditation, and of course across-the-board budget reductions, to name a few. The use of PON addresses all of these goals.
Tellabs, a leading optical LAN solution provider, presents a PON business case that estimates 70% lower capital costs, 80% less power consumption and heat output, and 90% reduction in floor, rack and closet space compared to Ethernet. In addition, optical fiber cable networks are cheaper, lighter, stronger and faster than copper networks. And to satisfy another growing mandate, they are greener.
These benefits have not gone unnoticed within the Department of Defense. In 2010 the Army recommended that all camps, posts and stations undergoing modernization aggressively adopt GPON networking technology by 2013 in order to decrease operating costs and capital expenditures. In 2011, the USMC CIO announced that the Marine Corps is recommending GPON for similar reasons.
As PON LANs become more prevalent within the government and military, more of them will be used for classified information transmission. Here is where the aforementioned value of INTERCEPTOR is realized: In a LAN, a PON transmits data entirely over a single optical fiber from the data center all the way to the desktop, outlet or telecom closet. By merely adding an additional pair of fibers to these cables and using INTERCEPTOR’s patented point-to-multipoint monitoring capabilities, these cables are instantly protected creating a Secure PON.
In a fiber-to-the-desktop (FTTD) PON system, the Optical Line Terminal (OLT) provides service for up to 64 PON interfaces. A single PON interface supports up to 32 Optical Network Terminals (ONTs) using 1×32 passive optical splitters, with the ONT providing the end user access point. The PON system therefore can support hundreds to thousands of end user Gigabit Ethernet ports from a single OLT. Conveniently, a single INTERCEPTOR can be placed at the OLT and configured to protect four separate zones, each consisting of the cable circuits running from the OLT to each group of 32 ONTs. That equates to 128 drops with a single INTERCEPTOR, making the cost of the INTERCEPTOR equipment less than $200 per drop. In some cases (e.g., US Air Force policy), the use of flexible interlocking armored optical cables can alleviate the requirement for containment in a hardened raceway, providing further cost savings and reduced complexity.
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