PDF of this tutorialAs a future-proof technology, ATM PON will serve as a framework for applications yet to be developed or advanced. While commercial deployments of ATM PON—with the exception of examples in limited areas in Japan by NTT—have yet to occur, trials have been increased in 1999 and are expected to accelerate in 2000. Perhaps the biggest advantage for ATM PON is that interest in the technology exists on a global scale, a situation that may be attributed in great part to the collaboration of the FSAN Initiative. Carriers and equipment makers believe that extensive collaboration on ATM–PON physical-layer interoperability will lead to an increase in the production volume of silicon chipsets that can be created to the global specification. Interoperability among the technology's management layers will depend on alliances among strategic vendors. Settling on the core framework, however, is what will propel the technology forward.
Carriers and service providers are expected to focus initially on business uses through FTTB, as real revenue streams typically originate in these areas. As production accelerates, operators will increasingly look to the mass residential market. Through the Internet age, small- and medium-sized businesses have been characterized as being on the down slope of technology. However, ATM PON, with its cost savings and flexibility, is capable of bringing more of these businesses on-line quickly.
Future applications aimed at FTTH scenarios include asymmetric broadband services (such as digital broadcast, video on demand, distance learning, and fast Internet), symmetric broadband services (such as telecommunications services and teleconferencing opportunities), and narrowband telephone services (such as the public switched telephone network [PSTN] and integrated services digital network [ISDN]).
