Intelligent Edge Network: Calix, Verizon Deploy AXOS and NG-PON2

 Calix, Inc., has announced that Verizon has selected the AXOS E9-2 Intelligent Edge System to begin large-scale NG-PON2 deployments in the first quarter of 2018.

These deployments will include the AXOS RPm (Routing Protocol module for Layer 3) and the AXOS SMm (Subscriber Management module for disaggregated Broadband Network Gateway). By leveraging an always-on, converged services platform, Verizon will deploy a single access network for residential, business, and mobile services.

This use of NG-PON2 technology will help Verizon realize a radical reduction in network operating complexity and costs while enabling the Company to deploy new services with unprecedented speed.

“Several years ago, we determined that we were going to need a better network to meet our growing customers’ demands for bandwidth and higher throughput. We saw that the single wavelength systems (e.g., 10G EPON and XGS-PON) were only possible interim solutions and that we needed a longer term solution. NG-PON2 is a platform that will meet the customers’ envisioned needs for the next decade or more given its many evolution paths as well as bringing many operational benefits to simplify the network. It represents a paradigm shift in the design of access networks,” said Vincent O’Byrne, director of technology planning at Verizon. “NG-PON2, allows us to converge our many service networks into a single unified intelligent network, and simplify our operating model by integrating the OLT and subscriber management system.”

“We also need to drastically shorten the time it takes to deploy new services,” added Lee Hicks, vice-president of technology at Verizon. “The best way to achieve these goals is through leveraging breakthrough technologies like NG-PON2 and the automation of manual functions across the network. Innovative partners like Calix are enabling us to leap frog the competition and consolidate multiple network elements into one platform and automate many of our most critical network functions. We are excited to now begin this transformation, starting in Tampa, Florida and expanding into other markets.”

With the inclusion of the industry’s first compliant NG-PON2 optics, the AXOS E9-2 Intelligent Edge System now delivers on the promise of software defined, converged networks. By consolidating the subscriber management, aggregation, and optical line terminal (OLT) functions into a single point in the network that is closer to the subscriber, Verizon will realize significant operations expense reductions with fewer network elements while dramatically improving their ability to automate the network.

“Calix has pursued the vision of a unified access network for a decade, and through the AXOS software platform the vision is now a reality,” said Carl Russo, president and CEO of Calix. “AXOS allows a service provider to deliver all services on a single, elastic, converged access network that is always on.  AXOS provides the flexibility to move intelligence deep into the access network, close to the subscriber where it makes architectural and financial sense. Quite simply, no other offering in the industry can match this value proposition. Over the last decade, we have made a significant investment in software development and built the world’s only Software Defined Access network, while Verizon has pioneered fiber everywhere. Culturally, our teams are a perfect match, and we are very excited to partner with Verizon as AXOS-enabled NG-PON2 enters production and reshapes how service providers architect their networks forever.”