Local access optical networks

Both broadcast CATV and switched telephony access networks have evolved, over decades, to deliver their respective services efficiently. But these networks are not necessarily optimal for services that are rapidly emerging. This suggests that the access infrastructure will likely change in the future, driven by demands for new services and the costs of providing them. Will fiber optic networks play an important role? Trade-offs in desirable network properties (low initial costs, high capacity, flexible provisioning, enhanced maintenance and operations, etc.) are strongly influenced by the network architecture. We classify architectures on two characteristics: delivery mode (i.e., broadcast vs. switched) and carrier utilization (i.e., shared vs. dedicated), examining the trade-offs these imply with several examples of existing and proposed architectures. We show that optical networks can, by virtue of recent component development, be reconfigured to change their characteristics without changing the outside plant.