GPON Network Analyzers

Until recently, happenings on Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) networks were quite a mystery to the carriers that were deploying these early GPON networks. Before the last couple of years or so, no protocol analyzers were available to display and decode the information transmitted across a GPON fiber. Without this visibility, carriers had to take vendors at their word about how well their products were following the ITU G.984 standards.  And vendors had limited visibility when they tried to interoperate with another vendors GPON products.

Luckily, there are now two vendors of GPON analyzers: TraceSpan and Tecnalia/TELNET-RI. TraceSpan, first with a GPON analyzer, provides protocol analyzers for a variety of broadband access technologies. Their GPON analyzer is known as the GPON Xpert and is shown below.

Tecnalia and TELNET-RI, both Spanish companies, developed the GPON Doctor, shown below.

GPON analyzers provide vendors of GPON hardware an independent view of GPON standards compliance. Carriers use these analyzers to evaluate a particular GPON implementation and interoperability between OLTs and ONTs. However, the big issue with interoperability between GPON OLTs and ONTs is management of the multi-vendor solution, and using these analyzers to verify OMCI management traffic is only a fraction of what is necessary for multi-vendor management to be accomplished. The data these analyzers provide does, however, provide some visibility into what it will take to achieve interoperability with a particular vendor’s products.

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