Last-mile devices are basic channels for ultra-broadband development. With the development of services (such as 4K/8K video, cloud computing, and virtual reality/augmented reality), global operators are driven to fast roll out 100 Mb/s and even 1000 Mb/s broadband, leading to a flourishing FTTH industry. To meet different requirements of full services, the access network needs to deliver higher speeds, bring better experience, and support better management, particularly in the case of home user networks. With this in mind, Huawei released the gigabit access–oriented MA5800 in 2014, meeting access requirements of the Gigaband era. This device supports any medium access, with which operators can fast build ultra-broadband networks and bring premium experience to users. 

MA5800: Is Born to Meet Gigabit Access Demands

The OLT, last-mile channel of FTTH, directly affects traffic volumes and quality. In the GPON/EPON era, when traffic is small, a centralized architecture can fully meet requirements. However, traffic soars by over 10 times when it comes to the ultra-broadband times. To cope with this new challenge, the OLT must support high bandwidth, large capacity, and intelligence performance. The traditional centralized architecture cannot realize such performance because it cannot meet requirements in terms of core switch chip costs and power consumption. 

Unlike the centralized architecture, the distributed architecture allows services to be processed in service boards. This removes system bottlenecks and greatly improves switching capacity, performance, and reliability. 

4K/8K video services are very popular in the ultra-broadband era, but they require bandwidth tens of times greater than that for SD and HD videos. In the SD and HD video times, the OLT can meet users' bandwidth demands by providing mainly PON and a few 10G PON boards. However, in the UHD 4K/8K video era, the OLT needs to support 10G PON, 40G PON, or even 100G PON, and the original 20G single-slot bandwidth is required to reach 200G or even higher. Therefore, to bring premium 4K/8K service experience, the OLT must be equipped with large bandwidth switching capabilities. 

In addition, as innovative services (such as cloud, smart home, and all-optical campus) grow at a rapid pace, operators begin to shift pure home broadband access services to integrated services (including enterprise access, Wi-Fi hotspot backhaul, and video surveillance), and changes the business model from selling broadband to wholesaling networks and opening up network capabilities. Driven by smart terminals and Internet of Things (IoT), the number of broadband access connections is explosively increasing. To meet this change, the OLT needs to deliver higher bandwidth and greater capacity. Moreover, it must support intelligence, virtualization, and expandability features for better service experience and fast service innovation. 

Against this backdrop, Huawei releases the MA5800. The MA5800 is the industry's first distributed intelligent OLT which helps operators better cope with the challenges presented by ultra-broadband access. 

MA5800: the Optimal Platform in the Gigaband Era

The MA5800 has following features: 

Supporting optimum 4K/8K video experience

The MA5800 is the only intelligent OLT which uses the distributed architecture in the industry. It can provide UHD 4K video services for 16,000 homes concurrently as well as supporting 8K video services. Unlike the traditional architecture, the distributed architecture supports lower service forwarding delay and larger system caches. Therefore, high throughput can be achieved, which expedites 4K/8K video start-up and channel zapping. With this architecture, PON boards can be upgraded without service interruption. In addition, the U-vMOS feature for intelligent monitoring and diagnosis over 4K/8K video services is also supported, which brings better network O&M and user service experience. 

Supporting smooth evolution of 10G/40G/100G PON

With its support for 16-port 10G PON access in a single slot, the MA5800 can implement non-blocking access of user service traffic and smooth expansion of forwarding capabilities. Furthermore, it allows operators to upgrade networks to 40G and 100G PON smoothly without replacing subracks. 

After the release of MA5800, Huawei continues to develop innovative 10G PON solutions, involving 16-port 10 GPON boards (the industry's highest density) and 8-port XGS PON boards (Huawei exclusive). Specifically, Huawei launches the PON combo solution for smooth evolution from PON to 10G PON, and flex-PON solution that supports the integration of XG PON, XGS PON, and TWDM. These 10G PON solutions enable operators to evolve GPON to 10G GPON, TWDM PON(40G PON), and 100G PON smoothly, thereby protecting as many existing investments as possible. 

Supporting virtualization capability for smart, flexible, and efficient service deployment 

Depending on intelligence and virtualization capabilities, the MA5800 supports logic fragmentation over equipment and network resources. That is, an OLT can be virtualized as multiple OLTs and these virtual OLTs are allocated for different services. In this case, operators can incorporate old OLTs, reduce the number of central offices, and cut operating expenses (OPEXs). 

Helping Global Operators in Commercial Deployment of Gigabit Services 

With the penetration of Gigaband access, Huawei's MA5800 devices have been deployed by over 50 operators in Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East regions, some of which have already rolled out the commercial use of 10 Gb/s services. In China, top 3 operators, partnered with Huawei, have carried out 10G PON-based Gigaband network construction and gigabit service deployment on a large scale. Shenzhen Telecom recently also signed a framework agreement with Huawei for building a "gigabit benchmark city". Under this agreement, Shenzhen Telecom plans to deploy gigabit networks thoroughly and build gigabit communities using MA5800 devices. In the future, Huawei will continue to support operators in building premium gigabit networks through the MA5800, helping them achieve business success.