Nokia debuts ‘fibre-for-everything’ Lightspan MF-14 OLT

Technologies and Products

Nokia has announced what it says is the world’s first Generation 6 OLT (Optical Line Terminal), designed, says the company, for a ‘fibre-for-everything’ world where fibre broadband networks evolve to become a single infrastructure for all services. The Lightspan MF-14 platform is already in trials with Frontier Communications in the US and CityFibre in the UK.

Based on a new, advanced hardware and disaggregated software design, the MF-14 is claimed to be the highest capacity platform in the industry and the only solution ready for mass delivery of 25G, 50G and 100G PON services. It’s also the industry’s first OLT with the six-nines availability and sub-millisecond latency. The Lightspan MF-14 platform, which extends the upper end of Nokia’s fibre broadband portfolio, will be premiered at the Network X event in Amsterdam from 18 to 20 October.

Frontier’s Scott Mispagel, SVP National Architecture and Engineering, said, “We are proud to be the first to embrace this next-generation platform. This is another way for us to provide customers with the fastest broadband available. The MF-14 platform will support our path to 100G using our existing fibre network and future-proof our network with speeds that will continue to outpace cable and other technologies for generations to come.”

In July this year CityFibre – the UK’s largest independent full fibre infrastructure platform – signed a 10-year equipment agreement to support its nationwide network upgrade. John Franklin, CTIO, CityFibre said, “As we accelerate our full fibre rollout to serve a third of the UK market by 2025, the demand placed on those networks will also accelerate. MF-14’s flexibility and capacity will help us to meet the needs of our partner’s and their customers for generations to come.”

Geert Heyninck, Nokia’s VP Broadband Networks, said, “Fibre-to-the-home is becoming fibre-for-everything. This is enabled by several technology advances, most notably higher speed PON technologies to accommodate all new services, and SDN to bring more intelligence in the network. If you think about it, the massive number of connection points on fibre make it a challenge to get an instant view of everything that happens in your network, fully automate network control, and perform actions with no service interruption. Our current portfolio is doing an excellent job in supporting many of these requirements for today’s and tomorrow’s services, but we are looking ahead. The MF-14 platform will suit operators who are planning large scale 25G PON, 50G and even 100G PON within the same environment.”

For more information, visit www.nokia.com