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NewsGlobe: Currents
Verizon Business takes fiber to the government agency’s desktop
New solution leverages FiOS PON technology
by Sean Buckley
With a network deployment that now serves 1 million customers as of
last month, it’s safe to say that Verizon Communications is clearly the
most aggressive provider on the fiber-to-the-x front.
But residential customers aren’t the only ones that are clamoring for
applications that require a fiber-based connection. As it moves through a continual building boom, the U.S. government is also in need of a fiber-based connection not just into the building, but also all the way to the desktop.
In partnership with government systems integrator SAIC, Verizon
Business will provide a fiber-to-the-desk solution for government
agencies and large business operating in a campus environment. SAIC
will provide enterprise applications and integration that will run over the
fiber network. (See Figure 1. )
Ed Hill, director of operations for Verizon Business’ Federal Network
systems says the fiber-based solution reflects the mentality that when
the government builds something they need it to last for a long time.
“As they start to build these new facilities out, we said to be ready and
planned for the future how can you look at them in a way in which you
are maximizing the space, reducing their operational costs, and also plan
for all of the new technology additions that are coming online,” Hill
said. “With the growth and the increase in video and the increase size in
data files, you want to be in a position where you have a progression
that allows people to keep increasing that bandwidth over time.”
Leveraging FiOS
Despite the unlimited potential that fiber can bring to any user, the
choice to take fiber all the way to the desktop did not come without a
thorough examination.
After it examined the footprint, power, and cooling requirements, and
overall costs, Verizon Business found that it was feasible to deliver a
fiber-to-the-desktop solution to government customers.
But Verizon Business is not reinventing the wheel with its fiber-to-the-
desktop solution.
“In Verizon’s case, the core company has invested significantly in fiber
solutions,” Hill said. “They invested in [fiber-to-the-x technologies] for
the home, but we felt that home version could be translated into
something that could be translated into the business. We took and built
$1.2 billion R&D and network upgrades that Verizon has put and said it
can apply to our government customers as well.”
Although Verizon Business is not actually extending the FiOS network to
government sites, Verizon Business will leverage the same BPON and
GPON technology to deliver the service to its government users.
There are some differences, however.
To connect to the outside world, Verizon Business will make a direct
connection to a high-speed WAN connection via an OC-3 to OC-192
circuit into the campus data center.
Once inside the building, Verizon Business will then put all services
(voice, video and data) on one single-mode connection from the data
center entry out to the desktop.
Hill says that there are a number of benefits that this system has over
existing networking technologies.
“In this case, you have single runs out that can go for miles if you
needed to, but most buildings won’t be quite that big,” he said. “It’s all
optical, and the network is using laser transmissions across, so your
energy levels are significantly lower than you would need in a traditional
type solution.”
A Secure Fit
While Verizon Business could not reveal any specific customer targets at
the time of this writing, it did say that the customers that have signed
on operate campuses with 8-10,000 users.
As Verizon targets both building-refurbishing projects and new facility
builds, the deployment of this new fiber-to-the-desktop solution will vary
according to the agency’s needs.
“Each one does turn into a custom design around the capabilities
because different customers want to have large video rooms, others
want more conference rooms, and some want to segregate offices,” Hill
said.
Hill added that one of the standout elements of the fiber-to-the-desktop
design are “it’s also particularly secure for government customers that
needs a high level of security.”
To achieve this higher level of security, Verizon Business is incorporating
elements into the OLT (Optical Line Terminals) and ONTs (Optical
Network Terminals) that terminate the fiber and deliver services to the
government user.
Verizon Business can then tailor the degree of security needed based on
an agency’s specific requirements.
“We fit these devices into architectures for government customers to
offer features they want, including the extra protection and security
that they require to ensure they won’t suffer breaches or hacker
problems,” Hill said.
Enabling New Applications
No matter how big the pipe is, the key driver for this solution is to enable
new high-bandwidth services for the government customer.
This is where SAIC comes in. Working in conjunction with Verizon Business, SAIC will put the finishing touch government customer to build desktop applications.
“Once we get everything in place and you get the capability up to the
desktop then at Layer 3 application layers, they [SAIC] will work with
that government customer with what applications they need at the
desktop,” Hill said.
Whether it’s fiber coming right to the desktop, the sky is the limit of
what applications the BPON and GPON network can support.
Supporting everything from video downloading and collaborative
communications tools, Hill said that customers see the future-proof
capabilities of the PON technology.
“We can do BPON, but most of the customers are looking at it and
saying let’s go to GPON right now,” Hill said. “These customers want
voice, video and data and get it all on one strand of fiber and they want
to be ready, whether we’re talking 5 years or 25 years out, they can still
support that bandwidth need.”
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