Status and Evolution of EPON: From IPTV Today to 10Gb/s and Beyond

FTTH systems based on the IEEE 802.3ah Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON) standard currently are being deployed at a rate of 200k+ lines per month worldwide. Services range from simple web-access in some markets to premium-grade triple-play for residential customers (voice, data, and television) and traditional TDM services for businesses (DS1/E1) elsewhere. This paper will review the current status of EPON technology, future directions in EPON standardization, similarities and differences between IEEE EPON and ITU-T GPON, and concludes with a discussion of interoperability and service migration.