Justone,
"All this still doesn't answer my real question. Is the last mile point to point fiber, or shared."
There are multiple architectures using fiber. I assume you are referring about fiber to the residence?
"It still seems the last mile to the home is shared.
Sometimes it is.
"Again, if shared, it sounds like we have contention of mixed media resources in a multi-host multi-client mutli-protocol environment."
You can count the number of point to point fiber deployments to residences on one hand.
- Most fiber to the premises installations (e.g., those using Optical Solutions' PON wares) use Passive Optical Networking topologies, or PONs, which tend to be shared media types. PONs have been patently ATM-based, they are not based on Ethernet.
- Fiber in cable TV HFC systems is shared (although through DWDM in the future this could change, when prices for wdm drops). TV channels on HFC are derived through RF that has been modulated up to the optical spectrum using FM or various vestigial sideband techniques between the Head End and the Field Node. From there on out it's coaxial. Cable also uses a modified form of Ethernet framing at Layer 2 that is supported on standard designated NTSC grade channels. The data protocols used in Cable Modem are not standard IEEE Ethernet, however.
- The model being promoted by World Wide Packets is dedicated point to point in nature, based on Switched Gb Ethernet. I don't think that this is anything special that WWP cooked up. It looks like they are integrating standard GbE products, to me. I could be wrong about this, though.
See the upstream technology papers at WWP's Web Site that describe their approach, and the press release that speaks to their limited p-p deployment in Washington State, respectively.
worldwidepackets.com
worldwidepackets.com |
