BROADCASTS.com

Published: Dec. 10, 2007, 1:57 a.m.

Mike Intro: Earlier this fall we\ndiscussed DOCSIS 3.0 and how the cable companies will use this\ntechnology to deliver high bandwidth services to consumers. In this\npodcast we discuss the implementation and technologies the traditional\ntelephone companies are using to deliver-high bandwidth voice, video\nand data services.

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Mike: Gordon,\nI know you are very familiar with Verizon and the companies FiOS fiber\nto the home ((FTTH) product. How is the project coming along?

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FiOS is Verizon's Fiber to the Home (FTTH), also\nknow as Fiber to the Premise (FTTP) product offering. The service\nprovides high-bandwidth data, voice and video services. The company has\nposted some interesting data on their policy blog for the third quarter of 2007. Here's a summary:

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Fiber Implementation: Source: http://www.verizon.com/fiberoptics

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\n\nFiOS\nis currently available in parts of 16 states: California, Connecticut,\nDelaware, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New\nJersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia\nand Washington.

At the end of September 2007, Verizon had passed about 8.5 million homes and businesses \u2013 installing more than 457 million feet of fiber in parts of 16 states.

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Verizon expects to continue passing some 3 million premises annually through 2010,

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when the company expects to have passed about 18 million homes, or over half the homes

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it serves.

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Verizon will begin boosting speeds and capabilities on its all-fiber network when it begins

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deploying advanced G-PON electronics in 2007. This technology can increase

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downstream broadband speeds by up to four times, and upstream speeds by eight times.

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Verizon is investing nearly $23 billion in the FiOS project, between 2004 and 2010.

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Mike: How about broadband products?

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Broadband Products: Source: http://www22.verizon.com/Content/ConsumerFiOS/

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Mike: What about video?

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Video: Source: http://www.verizonfios.com/tv

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Mike: What's happening with bandwidth over fiber?

On November 19, Verizon announced they have completed a 100 Gbps optical\ncommunications test between Tampa and Miami, FL. The two cities are 312\nmiles apart. Here's a couple of quotes from the press release:

\n\n\n\n Verizon\nhas successfully concluded the industry's first field test of 100\ngigabits per second (Gbps) optical transmission, on a live, in-service\n312-mile (504 kilometer) network route between Tampa, Fla., and Miami.

The\ntest, which utilized a live video feed from Verizon's national FiOS TV\nnetwork as the "payload," was successfully completed Friday (Nov. 16).\nThe 100 Gbps transmission was conducted on a Verizon Business ultra\nlong-haul optical system carrying other live traffic at 10 Gbps. The\ntest demonstrated that by deploying advanced electronics, an existing\nnetwork system can easily and quickly be upgraded to 100Gbps.

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\nThe test was done using existing fiber that had been installed for 10\nGbps service. Here's a couple more quotes from the press release:

Unlike\nother trials that used 10 separate 10 Gbps wavelengths to carry 100\nGbps, the Verizon test utilized a 100 Gbps signal on a single\nwavelength, demonstrating Verizon's drive to promote "true" 100 Gbps in\na serial fashion on just one transmission wavelength.

Like the\nequipment in the company's 40 Gbps trial in June 2004, the 100 Gbps\nequipment used in the field trial was implemented with a "plug and\nplay" approach. This is a key objective for future commercial\nimplementation, and means the technology was used without any changes\nto the fiber, amplifiers and other embedded equipment.

Amazing bandwidth obtained using existing fiber - the trial only swapped electronics using, according to the press release, Alcatel-Lucent's 1625 LambdaXtreme Transport system.

Mike: Will companies continue to deliver assymetrical services?

On October 22, Verizon announced\n20 Mbps symmetrical FIOs service in parts of New York, New Jersey and\nConnecticut for as low as $64.99 a month. There are two things that I\nfind exciting about this offering. First - it's great to see the\nbandwidths continue to go up. I feel this is just the start and we'll\nsee bandwidths of over 100 Mbps within the next two years in selected\nareas as the telcos, like Verizon, go head-to-head with the cable companies like Comcast. If you are lucky enough to live in an area where FIOS is available you re in for a real treat regarding bandwidth.

The\nsecond exciting thing I see here is a shift to symmetrical services.\n

Mike: Could you explain what a symmetrical service is and how it differ from what we're used to?

Broadband products to date, including FIOS, ADSL and cable modem, have\nalways been asymmetrical - the "A" in ADSL is even short for\nasymmetrical! Asymmetrical services provide more downstream bandwidth\nthan upstream bandwidth. It's been a way for the providers to "cheat" a\nbit based on traditional Internet usage. Consider the way you\ntraditionally surf the web - you enter a small amount of information in\nthe address bar and hit enter. The address you type ends up going to a\nDNS (Domain Name Service) server and is looked up. The DNS server sends\nback the IP address of the site you want and your browser is directed\nto that site location. The site server then sends your browser the site\ncontents you want to see.

Think about it - in the traditional\nmodel - a little information gets sent upstream and lots of information\ncomes back downstream. Recognizing these patterns the providers have\ndesigned their networks to provide a little upstream bandwidth and lots\nof downstream bandwidth. Well...... all this has changed with this new\nFIOS offering from Verizon. Here's a quote from a Verizon press release:
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"Verizon's\nnew symmetric service is a smart response to the changing usage\npatterns of high-speed Internet subscribers," said Vince Vittore,\nsenior analyst with Yankee Group. "We believe that as user-generated\ncontent continues to expand and telecommuting increases in popularity,\nupstream speed will become just as important as downstream for all\nusers."

Mike: Thanks Gordon. We'll take a look at Fiber To The Node (FTTN) technologies next week.