The Omdia survey found that 35% of Cable operators have already deployed PON in their networks, and nearly half expect to do so within 12 months. At the same time, EPB, a municipal operator in the United States, is already experimenting with quantum computing 50G SFP-DD PON OLT.

Many cable operators are advancing Hybrid Fiber/Coax (HFC) upgrades, but a significant number of them are also deploying PON technology for fiber-to-the-home (FTTP) build-out in rural areas and other greenfield environments. Other companies, such as Altice USA and Virgin Media O2, are actively covering the PON 50G SFP-DD PON OLT on their legacy HFC networks.

A recent Omdia survey shed light on PON deployments by cable operators. Omdia, a sister company of Light Reading, found that about 35 percent of cable operators surveyed have already deployed PON in their networks, with another 47 percent expecting to do so in the next year. Only 8% of operators said they had no current plans to deploy PON. This means that by next spring, about 80 percent of cable operators will have deployed the PON 50G SFP-DD PON OLT in some form or fashion, Alan Breznick, a contributing analyst at Heavy Reading, said during Light Reading's "LiveLearning" webinar co-hosted with SCTE.

Major industry organizations are also actively promoting the PON 50G SFP-DD PON OLT technology. A prime example is CableLabs, which has recently formed two fiber-oriented working groups focused on optical operation and maintenance, and has designated a DOCSIS framework for providing ITU-based PON technologies, including XGS-PON with 10g support.

While current PON 50G SFP-DD PON OLT deployments are focused on 10Gig technology, there has been some action focused on next-generation 25Gig technology. Google Fiber is starting to move in this direction, and EPB, a municipal carrier in Chattanooga, Tennessee, has launched a symmetrical 25Gbit/s service covering about 180,000 homes and businesses.

What's next for PON?

Douglas Blue, head of business development for Nokia's fixed networks unit in North America, believes that 10Gig PON technology will be mainstream in regions where competition is limited, but 25Gig PON technology is taking off in more competitive regions. He does not consider the 25G PON to be the "next generation," as shipments of products such as the related Optical Line Terminal (OLT) have been going on for about four years.

Richard Rommes, vice president of Access Network solutions and strategy at Harmonic, agrees that the 10G PON has some advantages, but sees the 100G PON as the next big upgrade to the 50G SFP-DD PON OLT on the horizon.

But speed and capacity are only two parts of the equation.

"The real issue may not be speed, but how operators manage these new networks and make the necessary upgrades to their back-office systems," said Richard Loveland, director of product line management for FTTP products PON at Vecima networks. He said cable operators will have to decide to focus on DocsIS-style technology or consider moving to a new system and platform, the 50G SFP-DD PON OLT.

Unified access - and the ability to disrupt multiple networks to serve multiple verticals - also has something to do with this thinking, Blue said. He believes that the capacity supported by 25G PON 50G SFP-DD PON OLT opens the door for a unified access platform, while 10G technology will fall short.

Katie Espeseth, vice president of new products at EPB, agrees, noting that the 25G PON 50G SFP-DD PON OLT reduces costs while also providing the bandwidth needed by hospitals, universities and other local institutions. "It (25G PON) has opened up a whole new world for us," she said.

But some forum members disagree on when the 25G PON 50G SFP-DD PON OLT will be deployed at scale. Vecima's Loveland said that commercial chips cannot support widespread deployment, and it is also uncertain whether the next big trend will be 25G or 50G Pons.

Blue believes the 25Gig OLT is already deployed at scale. Nokia has deployed about 1.1 million OLT ports, he said. At a scale of 1:32, this equates to 32 million terminals potentially having 25G capacity. But he acknowledged that it could be another six months to a year before the price of 25G optical network terminals (ONT) falls, further boosting the market for 50G SFP-DD PON OLTs.

Today's PON 50G SFP-DD PON OLT, tomorrow's quantum computing

EPB has been at the forefront of PON 50G SFP-DD PON OLT technology, but the company has also begun to focus on quantum computing, as IBM explains, Quantum Computing uses the laws of quantum mechanics to deal with problems considered too complex for classical Computing Architecture.

Espeseth said that if classical computing is described as a "crack in the wall," then quantum computing is like opening up the Grand Canyon. She explained: "We do think quantum technology is going to drive this country forward in 2035, 2040... We think we need to move in that direction now."

EPB launched its quantum network about a year ago. Starting with a 5km loop capable of expanding to 10 nodes, plans call for municipal operators to increase the network to 20km and then "at least" 90km, Espeseth said.

Quantum computing has a potential role in the EPB's power grid, which will evolve to reliably and securely manage millions of connected devices, she said.

Espeseth stressed that PON technology "has a long life" and EPB will not abandon the technology. "But all of that relies on fiber optic base technology," she said. Espeseth said EPG will be able to layer quantum computing technology on top of its existing PON network architecture.

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