Broadband Forum Launches Program for GPON Interoperability

FREMONT, CA – Accelerating GPON deployment is the goal of the new BroadbandSuite 6.2 from Broadband Forum,  a nonprofit industry organization. The new program, which establishes a fiber interoperability test plan, is being introduced at a time when fiber is the fastest-growing access technology worldwide. The suite offers verification tools to simplify equipment selection and keep up with market demands for stable, high-speed broadband networks.

BroadbandSuite 6.2 builds on the Forum’s BBF.247 ONU Certification Program, which is widely endorsed by major network operators that are deploying GPON. It responds to the industry's need for interoperability to help speed the widespread adoption of fiber-based networks. It assures that GPON equipment meets service provider requirements for efficient network operations and high-quality broadband access options.

“Service providers need world-class, market-ready ONUs and network interoperability,” said Robin Mersh, CEO of the Broadband Forum. “To reduce the cost of fiber rollouts, providers want standards-verified fiber products. With a reliable certification program, testing burdens decrease, and more vendors can ship interoperable products, which means a reduced time to market.”

With this new release, the BBF.247 test plan now offers new options for verifying ONUs against multiple VLAN profiles and functionality tests. The release also includes two pending technical reports:  a new test plan for XG-PON1 (WT-309), as well as a new PON Optical Layer management report (WT-287).  WT-287 looks at how to optimize a multiservice PON network that caters to both business and residential customers.  It covers system architecture, use cases, functional requirements and interoperability requirements. The specifications in WT-287 apply to both ITU-T and IEEE PON systems.

Additional fiber-related work in development at the Broadband Forum includes ONU deployment requirements for XG-PON1 and Fiber to the Distribution Point (FTTdp) requirements and architecture work

The Broadband Forum has approved an independent testing laboratory to conduct BBF.247 ONU certification.  The approved lab is LAN Laboratories, based in France and China.