Fiber-to-the-X (FTTX) refers to several marketplaces, Fiber-to-the-Curb/Business/Home, and others. In every case, the fiber-optic network penetrates deep towards the customer, and in some cases customer service is delivered directly over fiber-optic cabling (FTTH and FTTB, for example). FTTX operators face many challenges - regulatory, logistical and physical, when deploying these networks. In order to justify the expense of deploying deep fiber access, the revenue return must be substantial. Thus FTTX operators must deploy a variety of services - voice, video and data - provide value added services as well, including bandwidth services and, in some cases, content as well (such as video-on-demand or gaming). MRV, through its LuminentOIC subsidiary, is one of the world leaders in FTTX components, making MRV quite familiar with FTTX networks.

The combination of MRV's OptiSwitch line of Ethernet switching and routing products and FiberDriver line of Optical Ethernet transport products provides solutions for a wide range of FTTX applications, including curbside, business, home and MTU/MDU. The OptiSwitch Ethernet Circuit technology also provides a complete solution for bandwidth control and for security in FTTX environments, allowing the FTTX provider to offer value-added business services. The OptiSwitch is a highly flexible and modular family of switching and routing products ranging from a few ports of 100Base-FX to hundreds of Gigabit Ethernet ports, providing advanced services such as MPLS and end-to-end QoS along with unbeatable deployment flexibility and scalability.  
 
MRV solutions also include full fiber-optic redundancy for mission-critical customers.  
 
The Fiber Driver Optical Ethernet Service Demarcation (OESD) solution is specifically designed to enable service providers to rapidly deploy cost effect and fully managed point-to-point FTTX service. Employing the IEEE 802.3ah standard for operations, administration and maintenance (OAM) along with vendor specific extensions, complete control of the service link from central office to customer premise is achieved. Its extensive and robust management and diagnostic features such as Remote Loopback, Digital Diagnostics and remote software downloads improve OpEx by reducing the need for service truck rolls while enhancing customer support and ensuring maximum network up time.

FTTX networks, by their very nature, are spread out over a large geographic area. The network management process in this case can be complicated and cumbersome. For that reason MRV provides the MegaVision Web Network Management System together with the In-Reach and LX Remote Presence Management solutions. Using MegaVision and In-Reach, the task of operations support is centralized and simplified. Remote Presence technology allows the administrator to securely access and manage any part of the network either in-band or out-of-band without ever leaving the office.


To find out more about MRV Fiber-to-the-X solutions, contact your MRV sales representative, at sales@mrv.com.