Telecommunication carriers worldwide have come to the realization that their aging copper access infrastructure is being taxed as residential and business customers utilize ever-increasing, symmetrical bandwidth-intensive applications. The telecommunications landscape has matured to a point that carriers seek to offer network convergence and enable the revolution of consumer media device interaction. These demands are being met by the deeper penetration of optical fiber in access networks and increasing deployment of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH). As a result, FTTH is the fastest-growing global broadband technology, with significant deployments in Asia, Europe, and North America.

This tutorial provides details on why carriers are deploying FTTH today and details the architectures and protocols used in its deployment. Passive optical networks (PONs) and point-to-point (PTP) networks will be defined, as well as the multiple supporting protocols and standards such as ATM and Ethernet and their resulting video capabilities. Considerable time will be spent comparing and contrasting the deployment of fiber-to-the-home, building, curb, and node; collectively known as fiber-to-the-x (FTTx). Finally, the components and technologies used in the outside plant will be detailed.