As services such as high-definition TV (HDTV), media-on-demand (MOD), voice-over-IP (VoIP) and online gaming take off, demand for broadband grows accordingly. With enormous bandwidth to meet the need, fibre connectivity now costs less than ever to build; therefore Fibre to the Premises (including homes and commercial buildings) becomes the next cost-effective solution for higher network bandwidth.
As the leading provider of complete broadband access solutions, ZyXEL puts one of its focuses on the deployment of FTTx on access networks. Passive Optical Network (PON) is one fibre backbone shared by a set of users via one or more splitters, which usually referred to as a point-to-multipoint architecture. The line can be split 2 to 32 times, but in practical it's usually split 16 to 32 times in a distance between 10 and 20 kilometers. Since it requires less fibre and no power supply in the outside plant, the maintenance cost is lower as a result.
PON provides higher bandwidth capacity and better reliability to address Triple-Play services needs, and it is becoming more economical for service providers to start offering fibre to residential and small business premises.