Every start-up chipmaker, like Sckipio, needs the credibility, contacts and resources of a big-time equipment maker to take its technology into the big telecom companies. Spain-based Telnet Redes Inteligentes (Telnet) is doing exactly that. It could also give Sckipio inside access to Spain-based Telefonica, which has been one of Telnet’s best customers and is one of the world’s largest telcos with operations in Europe and Latin America.
Telnet makes fiber optic gear, fiber optic cables and cellular antennas such as for LTE and WiMAX networks.
Telnet selected Sckipio’s G.fast chips for a hybrid fiber-copper access distribution point (HFCA-DP), which it says is the first such product that’s “tailored to be fully interoperable” with Alcatel Lucent and Huawei’s GPON optical line terminal (OLT) that many large telcos use in their fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) networks. Telnet specifically mentions Telefonica as a prime prospect for the product and, in addition, says nearly 60% of OLT users can use Telnet’s new HFCA-DP without any concern about full-compatibility with existing GPON equipment.
Telnet’s HFCA-DP can connect up to 16 G.fast subscribers over existing copper phone wires. Likely installations are in MDUs. Small MDUs get one HFCA-DP such as in a basement or equipment room. Large MDUs get one HFCA-DP installed on each floor or every second floor. The technology works well in both residential and commercial MDUs.
Its ability to work fully compatible with existing AlcaLu and Huawei equipment is a major selling point for the Telnet gear that has Sckipio’s G.fast chips because AlcaLu and Huawei probably have half or more of the world’s installed base of fiber gear.
ADTRAN and ZTE are two other major makers of fiber network equipment for telcos.
Telcos will install Telnet’s HFCA-DP boxes near the residence or in an MDU where the fiber terminates in the box that connects to the existing copper telephone wires that go to the inside of the home. It means telcos’ personnel do not have to physically enter the residence but can ship a new modem/gateway to the residence for a self-install.
For the first time ever, copper-wire telcos will be able to match speeds with cablecos’ DOCSIS broadband technology. G.fast allows telcos to offer speeds in the 300 Mbps to 1 Gbps range without the cost and mess of installing fiber all the way into the home.
It’s almost certain that Telnet has in hand or is about to land some large orders for the product. Telecom equipment makers like Telnet rarely make new products “on spec,” hoping that they can land an order.
Telnet’s HFCA-DP product is also compatible with other high capacity G.fast optical backhaul architectures.
Telnet Redes Inteligentes founder and CEO Manuel Villarig Tomás said, “The HFCA-DP delivers the best of both worlds. Sckipio’s amazing G.fast DP chipset and system design combined with Telnet’s unique interoperability with the leading optical networks makes for a truly breakthrough opportunity for Telnet.”
Sckipio founder David Baum said, “Telnet is bringing a lot of innovation to the G.fast world. Their level of end-to-end manageability hasn’t existed in the G.fast market until now.”
Also important to Sckipio is Telnet’s membership in Celtic Plus, the European research and development program that’s intended to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness in telecommunications through collaborative R&D projects such as the rapid deployment of G.fast networks. Other members are telcos such as Telefonica, British Telecom (which has been talking up G.fast for several months), Orange and Deutsche Telekom; equipment makers such as Ericsson and Telnet; research institutions such as TNO (which tests new telco technologies and develops installation guidelines) and chipmakers such as Sckipio. The four telcos — UK, France, Germany and Spain — represent the overwhelming majority of the European telco market.
The University of New Hampshire’s InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) has scheduled for April 27-May 1 its next G.fast plugfest, which will show telcos that they will be able to buy fully compatible G.fast gear from more than one equipment maker. Currently China chipmaker Triductor Technology is the only company that has publicly signed up.
Some tests have shown that G.fast and its 300 Mbps to 1 Gbps may cost less to install than VDSL2 vectoring with its 80-100 Mbps speeds. If true, telcos could begin deploying G.fast gear as their next-generation broadband technology. The only major difference, other than speed, between vectoring and G.fast is that with G.fast telcos must deploy fiber closer to the residence than with Vectoring.
There are unconfirmed rumors galore about telcos, major and mid-sized, putting out RFP (requests for proposals) for G.fast equipment.
This first ran in Rider Research’s Online Reporter.