Based on the comments of Noam and Near I referenced in my last post, I am not sure you can say that every ONT with a Passave chipset in it also must have a Luminent Triplexer. See below for an account of what MRV/Luminent has been selling in Japan to NTT.
Triplexers are for a BPON/GPON environment and Noam clearly says that Passave is “not really in BPON and GPON.” Rather as your blog link points out, they are used almost entirely in the GEPON environment that exists in Japan with NTT.
That said, it is possible that a Passave chipset could be used in the Verizon FIOS buildout in a manner that is “complimentary” with the Triplexer. However, it seems that VZ’s ONTs instead use a Freescale/Broadlight chipset for protocol processing.
MRVC Conf call comments on Luminent and FTTH in Japan…
Q402
We also have similar application, fiber to the home through Luminent components in Japan where fiber to the home is now also -- it's a trickle, but it's a trickle that involves hundreds of thousands of homes a year. So it's something that we are still not seeing the millions, but we're seeing the hundreds of thousands.
Q203
Luminent has been supplying optical transmission components for fiber-to-the curb and fiber-to-the-home applications for over 10 years. Our products serve several hundreds of thousands of homes in the U.S.A. and in Japan.
Our duplexers and Triplexers are either in qualifications or are already qualified by the major equipment vendors that are most likely to win. Luminent not only has the technology and a decade of experience in FTTP, but also has the firepower to keep up with anticipated demand.
Q303
In fact, Luminent has been supplying optical transmission components for Fiber-to-the-Curb and Fiber-to-the-Home for over 10 years. Our products are serving hundreds of thousands of homes in the U.S. and in Japan.
Q403
Having full ownership of laser design and manufacturing process is a strategic advantage for low-cost high-volume production. The lasers are then integrated into transceivers, and into fiber to the premises products such as Triplexers and Bi-directional receivers. We have been supplying optical transmission components for fiber to the curb or fiber-to-the-home for over ten years. Our products are already serving more than 1 million homes in the U.S. and in Japan. [ed. Considering when in time this was said, almost all of these million homes must have been in Japan.]
Q104
Through LuminentOIC, we also supply, FTTP fiber-to-the-premises modules to well over one million users in the United States and in Japan.
Q204
We have been supplying optical transmission components for fiber to the curb and fiber to the home for several years, connecting over 1 million end users in the United States and in Japan.
JAMES YING: Right. And outside of Verizon, I know there's talk about other possibilities here. Can you help us understand some of the projects that are out there and perhaps help us put some feel for how big these revenue opportunities could be in terms of Verizon talk about 1 million household paths this year. Would there be opportunities you can -- if possible, can you size up the household path type of opportunities out there?
NEAR MARGALIT: Yes, probably, I would say, next to Verizon, it seems like the next biggest opportunity for fiber in the home is in the Japan market, which seemed to have similar scale deployment plans for optics. Not necessarily exactly the same architecture but in terms of number of users served is pretty significant. Outside of that, there seem to be probably SBC has some plans but unclear architecture, and Korea and India are both areas that seem to be aggressively, at least, setting up plans for fiber-to-the-premise.
JAMES YING: Okay, so are you already starting to realize revenues perhaps from the Japan fiber deployment or are you perhaps in the stage of RFP response?
NEAR MARGALIT: For the Japan deployment, I think there has been a bit of a switch in architecture from point-to-point links to PON links, and we were a relatively big participant in the point-to-point links, and we're currently in the transition process to PON deployment. [ed. Its not clear how successfully Luminent made this transition given the GEPON focus of NTT. However, MRV’s Taiwanese subsidiary, Appointech, does make GEPON transceivers.]
appointech.com
appointech.com
Q304
NEAR MARGALIT: ………
In terms of NTT, I think there are several equipment suppliers supplying there, and I think they are pretty aggressively switching to PON architecture from point-to-point architecture, and (indiscernible) gigabit to Ethernet PON seems to be the dominant architecture that's being employed there.
DAVID KANG: Speaking of GPON and EPON, would that make any difference to you as far as on your opportunities concerned? I guess internationally or Japan is looking at more of a GPON versus -- the domestic guys are more of an EPON. [ed. Kang has this backwards.] Does that make any difference as far as your dollar content is concerned?
NEAR MARGALIT: No. Basically, it's almost identical in terms of both types being in content and it's almost exactly the same devices as we would currently sell.
<end of quotes>
Near’s last comment suggests they are still players in the NTT FTTH build. This might make a good question on the upcoming conference call.. That said I think Luminent clearly sees the future as being GPON and not GEPON.
Finally, don’t forget MRV also has connections to NTT through CES. And of course through the old Zuma Networks gang..
>>To mention a few specifics, CES has collaborated with Lucent of Mount-Olive,NJ,USA in the development of Lucent ’s RNC and Node-B (BTS) solutions for the Japanese market (i.e. for NTT-DoCoMo).
Nortel has used the CES platform to validate their RNC concept and to perform preliminary UMTS trials for European customers. The platform used consisted of multi-processor single board computers and ATM network interfaces.
CES has also collaborated with a Swedish company Tietonator:
tietoenator.com ) in the development of a RNC simulator for Ericsson. The simulator will be used to validate Ericsson ’s BTS product throughout its life cycle, including the stages of development, production and maintenance. The simulator will be used in the Japanese market (i.e. NTT-DoCoMo) and the European markets (various operators.<<
HC |
