S&T Iskratel Claims World’s Fastest Full Fibre PON OLT at 1.4Tbps

Slovenia-based ICT provider Iskratel, which only last year opened a new branch in the United Kingdom to supply ISPs (e.g. Zzoomm) deploying Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband networks with various types of optical fibre kit, today claims to have unveiled the “world’s fastest” Passive Optical Network (PON) Optical Line Terminals (OLT).

Premises covered by a full fibre network usually have an Optical Network Terminal (ONT – optical modem) installed on their inside wall, which itself connects back, via optical fibre and some other bits (splitters etc.), to an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) deeper in the network (often at an exchange / headend). The OLT then connects into the operator’s core network and helps to manage the end-user connections as part of the wider Passive Optical Network (PON).

Iskratel has now unveiled two new top-of-the-line, multi-terabit OLTs, which appear to be some of the fastest we’ve seen. For example, the new Iskratel Lumia T6 touts 1.4Tbps (Terabits per second) of uplink capacity and is claimed to be “the world’s fastest shelf-based PON OLT allowing for a seamless technology upgrade in the same chassis when new PON generations are available.”

With a capability of 800Gbps (Gigabits per second) per subscriber blade and 3.4Tbps switching capacity, the Iskratel Lumia T6 looks as if it will easily support the future 50GPON and 100GPON standards, in addition to current 10Gbps capable PON technologies, such as Combo PON and XGS-PON.

The company has also announced the launch of its Iskratel Lumia T14, which is being touted as a “super-scalable, high-density OLT, able to host present and future PON technologies“. While Iskratel Lumia T6 can serve over 20,000 users with its 80/64 ports, the bigger T14 can provide PON connectivity to more than 50,000 users with its 208/192 Combo PON ports.

Simon Čimžar, CTO, Business Unit Broadband at S&T Iskratel, said:

“Services such as video conferencing, 4K video streaming, gaming and cloud storage are all gaining popularity rapidly, creating a rising demand for data rates for a reliable performance. The outstanding uplink capacities of our new OLTs are the fastest way to unlocking a greener future, due to full compliance with the EU Code of Conduct on Energy Consumption of Broadband Equipment, fundamental in enabling operators to reduce energy costs and their impact on the environment.

The new OLTs can support both, the current and next-generation PON technologies. Moreover, it is designed for virtualized operation on the same hardware which guarantees operators the return and safety of their investment.”

Regarding the aforementioned operating temperatures, it’s worth pointing out that we have seen some recent heatwaves cause even a few UK full fibre cabinets to go above 90c (example). More umbrellas may thus be required if installing this in certain street cabinets 🙂 , but then we don’t expect to see much of this new kit being deployed in the UK for a little while.