LG Nortel launches Ethernet Access solution

Norte and LG-Nortel are introducing a new Ethernet Access solution to help service providers prevent bandwidth bottlenecks in the critical "first mile" of their networks. This will allow for faster and more reliable delivery of data between high-speed core networks and individual user access points. The Ethernet Access technology was developed by LG-Nortel, a joint venture of LG Electronics and Nortel.

The Ethernet Access technology was developed by LG-Nortel, a joint venture of LG Electronics and Nortel.

Nortel's Ethernet Access solution, which is designed to clear up first mile network traffic jams caused by bandwidth-hungry applications such as HD video, makes it possible to divide a single optical fiber into multiple wavelengths, each capable of carrying the same bandwidth that previously required an entire fiber.

"Think of the network's bandwidth traffic as millions of cars on an ultra-fast highway," said Peter MacKinnon, president and chairman, LG-Nortel. "Today, many 'cars' get stuck in traffic jams on access ramps as they travel that first mile to enter the highway or as they travel to their final destination. Nortel's Ethernet Access solution gives each car its own off and on ramp by dedicating a single wavelength for each user. The solution is fast and secure because it is not shared with anyone else."

"Service providers are seeking more utility out of their deep-fiber access networks," said Michael Howard, Infonetics Research. "PON systems can do this, however, today's PON systems share bandwidth among many users and thus have painful bandwidth constrictions, whereas a WDM-PON can serve up 10 to 20 times the capacity with a dedicated wavelength to each destination, whether to home, building, or DSLAM. Consumers want a super-fast broadband network that can download music in seconds and movies in minutes, and carriers want backhaul facilities to carry residential and business traffic. Service providers can solve these problems with a simple, point-to-point Ethernet WDM-PON to meet the ever-growing demands for bandwidth from their customers."

Nortel's WDM-PON Ethernet Access solution offers operators a competitive edge over those using other PON technologies by allowing them to accelerate the deployment of fiber-to-the-home and fiber-to-the-building with a simple engineering and deployment model. The network performance is also symmetrical meaning that both the upload and download speeds are the same so it can effectively support multimedia applications like video-calling. This allows operators to broaden their portfolios and offer innovative new services that could result in increased Average Revenue Per User and greater customer loyalty.

Also announced today, Netherlands based service provider, UNET is using Nortel's Ethernet Access solution to deliver fiber to homes and businesses across the country to support bandwidth hogging applications such as IPTV - particularly HDTV - and emerging applications such as multimedia conferencing, and even online karaoke sessions.

The new solution will be demonstrated at this year's Broadband World Forum(2) in Belgium from September 29 to October 1 in Nortel's booth at 474.