Operations and maintenance experimental testbed for a business TPON system

The proposal of new network architectures for the access network, such as TPON (telephony over a passive optical network), led to the study of ways in which the new architecture can be integrated into existing systems. A testbed designed to explore the integration issues is described. Emphasis is placed on the operational experience gained using the testbed. The key objectives of the testbed were to determine the optimum operations and maintenance (O&M) procedures to allow the introduction of TPON systems into BT's existing O&M architecture; to identify the network management requirements; and to gain an improved understanding of the wider implications for mass deployment of fiber in the loop. The design of the testbed involved a passive optical network, a head-end multiplexer, and a remote-end multiplexer. The O&M development process of iterating procedure definition, prototyping, experimentation, and evaluation has proven successful in helping to define the optimum O&M procedures and tools.<>