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Technology Stocks : LAST MILE TECHNOLOGIES - Let's Discuss Them Here -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Regis McConnell who wrote (4132)	6/12/1999 2:53:00 PM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

Regis, your post in the MRVC thread (which was a copy of an article by Carol Wilson) concerning BLS' PON architecture actually was better than the release itself, if it is accurately stated (unlike the title of the article which suggests that the fiber is brought right into the home... whereas in actuality it only goes as far as the ONU). Up to this point it seemed to me that their approach to the integrated fiber in the loop (IFITL) might have been different than the APON prescribed in the FSAN model. I would appreciate it if someone more knowledgeable with BLS's actual implementation would corroborate, or debunk, this for us... Thanks. Regards, Frank Coluccio --------------- BellSouth Plans To Deliver Fiber-To-The-Home June 10, 1999 Carrier is building the nation's first fiber-to-the-home network in an Atlanta suburb By Carol Wilson BellSouth has found the missing link. The carrier announced last week that it is building the nation's first fiber-to-the-home network in an Atlanta suburb to verify the technical and financial viability of its current approach to combining voice, data and video onto a single fiber-optic cable that goes all the way to a customer's house. Last week, BellSouth connected about 300,000 homes with fiber-to-the-curb networks, which carry a high-capacity fiber-optic cable to a point a few hundred feet from customers and then serve eight to 16 homes from a single piece of electronic gear known as an optical network unit. BellSouth's (www.bellsouth.com) new approach eliminates use of electronics in the field, incorporating passive optical network technology instead. PON devices can appropriately direct lightwaves without needing electronics or electrical power. An Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network will be used initially to deliver high-speed data, along with 120 digital video channels, 70 analog video channels and 31 digital audio channels. Voice service will be added within the first year of operation, said David Kettler, executive director of BellSouth Science and Technology. Although the network can deliver data at speeds up to 100 megabits per second, the initial 400 customers will have to settle for data rates that match BellSouth's current, slower tariffed offerings. "Combining ATM and PON technology gives us the capability to eliminate active electronics in the field and the flexible bandwidth to provide on-demand services," Kettler said. Eliminating active electronics reduces costs, since a power source isn't required and, over the life cycle of the system, reduces maintenance costs as well, he added. BellSouth has been part of a global consortium investigating ATM-PON networks, known as Full Service Access Network group, and has been doing its own work with Nippon Telegraph & Telephone, the Japanese telecom service provider that has been a world leader in fiber-to-the-home development. The company named Lucent Technologies and Oki Electric Industry as its equipment vendors for the Atlanta network, but it likely will work to create a consortium of network operators who jointly agree on network specifications and then seek vendor input as a group, Kettler said.