The critical role of the FAN Work Area

The critical role of the FAN Work Area

Marta Seda, Calix and Fiber Access Networks (FAN) Work Area Director at Broadband Forum

Next-generation broadband services and applications such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and virtual reality are set to drain the bandwidth of home networks. It is forecast that there will be 478.22 million smart homes globally by 2025. As a result, customer demand for more bandwidth and lower latency continues to climb. This poses a significant challenge for operators. With networks reaching capacity quicker than ever before; how do they satisfy their subscribers’ insatiable appetite for more? The answer, for many, is fiber.

Natural evolution of PON technologies

Today, PON is a mature technology, but as demand for ultrafast connectivity and requirements for 5G backhaul grow, there are new technologies being introduced. This includes the MSA’s 25GS-PON and the ITU-T’s 50G PON. Seen as a natural evolution of existing GPON and XGS-PON technologies, 25GS-PON can support 5G transport networks, bridging the gap between 10G and 50G PON. Meanwhile, 50G PON is a higher capacity PON technology suitable for wide use by enterprises with higher bandwidth requirements.

Whatever the PON, ensuring it is applicable to future specifications is critical. Regardless of the technology deployed, operators need to design the physical optical distribution network to ensure a single fiber build.

Playing an instrumental, interoperable hand

The Broadband Forum has played a pioneering role in building these standards. Today, this work continues, with the Fiber Access Networks (FAN) Work Area adapting its existing test cases and requirements, and PON YANG to accommodate for the new PON technologies. It covers not just the delivery of the PON service but the management of the PON itself.

Significantly, FAN has recently created two new Project Streams dedicated to the latest technologies in the industry.

• HSP (ITU-T G.9804) 50G PON Project Stream
• 25GS-PON (MSA) Project Stream 

Both Project Streams are ground-breaking with 50G PON an entirely new technology and 25GS-PON an incremental add-on to existing technology. Work is already well underway, with several Working Text documents expected to be directly impacted. The work covers the development of requirements, coordination of updates to YANG data models, and interoperability test cases.

FAN-tastic progress made

Playing a critical role in the development of widely-adopted standards such as TR-142, TR-156, TR-167, TR-280, TR-301, and TR-331, the FAN Work Area was established to speed-up mass fiber deployments and ensure interoperability. It brings the industry together to collaborate on these specifications and is responsible for writing requirements and test cases for PON technologies. Two of its biggest drivers include reducing costs and accelerating the time to market of new equipment and services.

Unlike other Standards Development Organizations, FAN, under the umbrella of Broadband Forum, is responsible for certification, creating network test requirements, and developing PON YANG. FAN covers the specification of PON NETCONF/YANG data models for the defined YANG modules, and PON test suites used to verify the interoperability of the fiber access specific portions of the network. The group also specifies and maintains PON architecture and nodal requirements, PON abstraction, and mobile backhaul requirements.

As more and more players continue to pay significant attention to virtualization, the need for interoperability testing, data models, and reference configurations remains critical. Why is interoperability key? Not only does it ensure the interconnection of various technologies, but it provides invaluable insights for the likes of developers and implementers of new products and services. This eliminates years of potential delays and in-service failures that might impact overall revenue and negatively impact the credibility of broadband companies.

If you’re interested in learning more about the FAN Work Area and getting involved in our work, please contact: help@broadband-forum.org.