Gigabit over Plastic Optical Fiber

[Terry Kennedy]

There is only one commercial implementation of Gigabit POF that is currently standardized in Europe under ETSI (TS 105 175-1-2) and in process to write the standard in IEEE 802.3 (1000BASE-RH), expected publication date end 2016.

How "future-proof" do you think POF will be? I'm running 10GbE over fiber which carried 10Mbit Ethernet when it was installed 20+ years ago. That is likely the "end of the road" for that fiber, since it is 62.5/125 and 50/125 is the preferred short-haul high-speed fiber these days.

Also, it sounds like we are still 18 months away from an IEEE standard for GigE over POF. Assuming POF can handle 10GbE, do you think there would be a more accelerated schedule for implementing it (and possible future standards like 2.5 and 5GbE)?

There are existing SFP modules with Gigabit POF "flavour". The very same company from the webpage referred by Tim, that is CASACOM, offers an SFP with POF.

Being an SFP means that you can plug it into any SFP device (typically a switch with SFP slots in it).

I mentioned in an earlier post that a number of vendors such as Cisco and HP try to enforce vendor "lock-in" by programming "magic cookies" into their SFP EEPROMs. It took some years for the major SFP manufacturers to release SFPs with reprogrammable EEPROMs so users had access to inexpensive SFPs - there is more than a 10x price difference between genuine Cisco and "Cisco compatible" SFPs. With a single manufacturer of POF SFPs, will that manufacturer risk the wrath of OEM customers like Cisco in order to get less-expensive ones into the market? If not, the price difference between genuine and compatible will pay for a lot of glass fiber. Here is a genuine Cisco MMF SFP for US $368.99. Compare with a Cisco-compatible one from the same vendor here, for US $64.99 . And if you're willing to buy on eBay, here is a Cisco-compatible one for US $3.95. With 2 SFPs (one for each end) the US $730 savings for going compatible buys a lot of glass fiber.

Also, at least in the case of Cisco, unless the module reports a model number and properties that is supported by a particular Cisco device, it won't be enabled even if the "magic cookie" is present. That's why (for example) you can't stick a DWDM SFP in a switch that only supports plain old SM or MM SFPs. Granted, this is less of an issue with consumer equipment, where the manufacturer often says "we don't do anything to block generic SFPs, but of course we only warranty configurations which use our SFPs exclusively". If you're looking at the professional installers as the primary customers for POF, will they be willing to accept the risk of an unsupported configuration?

The point here is that if a user ( and I mean a normal user , that is, one that has to call an installer and can not make the installation by himself) were to instal a GOF backbone in his house it will be much more expensive than doing it in POF. You can not just compare the cost of POF itself (30 cents per meter) with GOF but the termination (no needed in POF...) and the skills of the installer (which in turn translates into $$$ charged to you for each hour spent).
There are all these nice "ready" to install GOF systems but go and try to ask for the price...

See my reply above for a discussion of the pricing issues. To expand on that a little, here is a 50M LC/LC jumper for US $54.99. I intentionally avoided less expensive ones from limited quantity surplus sellers - this is new from a seller with many in stock. That comes to a total of US $62.89 for 50 meters of pre-terminated fiber plus a matching Cisco-compatible SFP for each end. Is POF going to come close to that price? If not, potential customers need to weigh the convenience of "just stick it in" termination vs. the higher price.

And finally and once again, if Copper can be installed, POF is out of question... the point of POF comes when copper is hard or impossible to install.

Here in the US, it is common to find existing coax cable wiring in many rooms (from cable or satellite TV). If that wire is there and can be used, you can purchase MoCA adapters here for US $14.99 per endpoint. This is a full-duplex 100Mbit/sec device. MoCA 2.0 provides GbE speed for point-to-point links, though I'm not familiar with the pricing on those units.

 

[ociordia]

How "future-proof" do you think POF will be? I'm running 10GbE over fiber which carried 10Mbit Ethernet when it was installed 20+ years ago. That is likely the "end of the road" for that fiber, since it is 62.5/125 and 50/125 is the preferred short-haul high-speed fiber these days.

Also, it sounds like we are still 18 months away from an IEEE standard for GigE over POF. Assuming POF can handle 10GbE, do you think there would be a more accelerated schedule for implementing it (and possible future standards like 2.5 and 5GbE)?

Hi Terry, you are right this is a key point. Currently POF runs at Gigabit but higher speeds are already in the oven. You know that IEEE´s next step jumps right into 10 Gbps as of today but, I guess from your comment, they are considering intermediate steps to 2.5 and 5 Gbps as well. POF will most likely jump into this last wagon but, for sure, no way to reach 10 Gbps.... unless you change something else (Laser light instead of LEDs, for example), which will increase the cost and then GOF is clearly a winner choice.

Here[/URL] is a genuine Cisco MMF SFP for US $368.99. Compare with a Cisco-compatible one from the same vendor here, for US $64.99 . And if you're willing to buy on eBay, here is a Cisco-compatible one for US $3.95. With 2 SFPs (one for each end) the US $730 savings for going compatible buys a lot of glass fiber.

Also, at least in the case of Cisco, unless the module reports a model number and properties that is supported by a particular Cisco device, it won't be enabled even if the "magic cookie" is present. That's why (for example) you can't stick a DWDM SFP in a switch that only supports plain old SM or MM SFPs. Granted, this is less of an issue with consumer equipment, where the manufacturer often says "we don't do anything to block generic SFPs, but of course we only warranty configurations which use our SFPs exclusively". If you're looking at the professional installers as the primary customers for POF, will they be willing to accept the risk of an unsupported configuration?

See my reply above for a discussion of the pricing issues. To expand on that a little, here is a 50M LC/LC jumper for US $54.99. I intentionally avoided less expensive ones from limited quantity surplus sellers - this is new from a seller with many in stock. That comes to a total of US $62.89 for 50 meters of pre-terminated fiber plus a matching Cisco-compatible SFP for each end. Is POF going to come close to that price? If not, potential customers need to weigh the convenience of "just stick it in" termination vs. the higher price.

CASACOM´s SFP is "Cisco compatible", they implement all these obscure tricks to overcome the magic cookies of these guys and others.... we have tested them in several switches and they work really well.
I don´t know their commercial prices but from my conversations with them there should be possible to put a 15$ Gigabit POF SFP in the market for sufficiently high volumes.

MoCA[/URL] adapters here for US $14.99 per endpoint. This is a full-duplex 100Mbit/sec device. MoCA 2.0 provides GbE speed for point-to-point links, though I'm not familiar with the pricing on those units.

For this use case, if MOCA is giving you Gbps true speed, POF is out of question. But, several ISPs and operators offering this solution to customers are not happy with it for two reasons. First is that MOCA is a shared media and when it comes to several users using the same coax collisions quickly degrade performance. The other point is that their practical experience is that the already existing coax cables are far from being "ready to use" in Gigabit data com applications. They typically need to rework the all installation, change splitters, redo connectors, etc... to get the all wiring work close to the speed they need. And even in this case, they keep having calls of users that still experience unpredictable performance.
In summary, if your MOCA works well, forget about POF, but this is far from being 100% of the cases...

 

[htismaqe]

So it seems there's a market for this in Europe and other places where building construction limits the use of copper. Interesting...

 

[azazel1024]

Is European code that much different that international electric code which most municipalities enforce in the US? Under international electric code, so long as your low voltage wiring is plenum rated, it can be run through HVAC duct work. Prices are around $.37 USD per meter with no extra equipment needed on either end.

If it really is that easy to terminate, I could see some uses for POF over GOF where you'd want/need fiber of a medium length. I guess my concern is still price between the SFP modules (if comparable, no big concerns there) as well as "future proofing".

I know if I run 40 meters of OM2 from my house to my outbuilding that I am converting in to a 1 car garage, that it'll handle 1000base-SX today and later if I need/want it, 10GbE will certainly run on it at those distances.

My concern would be that whatever POF I installed today, might handle gigabit, but in the future, could it handle 10GbE, or even 2.5 or 5GbE at a distance of 40 meters. It might, but I'd prefer not relying on a might when I am putting a couple of dozen hours in to trenching, laying conduit and running wires (both electric and fiber). At roughly 50 cents per foot and two cables (single strand, not multistrand) for redundancy for GOF OM2 in duct work...it is a small cost premium for what I KNOW will support future speeds.

 

[Matteo Saitta]

Hi, sorry to wake up a dead thread but I'm currently evaluating to buy the same casacom kit for myself and wanted to add my personal point of view, euro wise.

In most european countries in house cables(electical and data) are pulled within plastic corrugated conduits due to the stone/brick construction. To save time and money the conduits are deployed to fit just the electrical cables(bigger bores mean more work and more expensive conduits) so pulling cat5+ is not an easy feat in older houses(more modern houses have their walls built in drywall so you can easily cut them, pull new conduits and reseal). So if you have very little room to pull cables you need to evaluate optical fibre, unless you want to pull OM2 GOF you cannot reliably use on-site connector termination(which is still bloody expensive for most home network setups) due to misalignment issues(you need a proper termination alignment/seal, which is hard as balls on OM3+ if you do it by hand, if you plan to reach a 10g+ grade link, otherwise there is no point in deploying high grade GOF), you need to either use onsite fusion splice on a premade pigtail(which is stupid expensive for a home network) or you need to use a premade end-to-end preterminated wire(the preterminated connector, even on a LC termination, is going to be as wide as a cat5+ cable making it pretty much useless on fully populated conduits). Which bring us to POF(in this case step index pof, otherwise you cannot get full gigabit speed, which is what casanet is selling). POF does not require complex termination(the most commonly used connector in home POF kits is optolink, which does not require any kind of termination beside having a clean cut on the end of the fibre), does not care about bends or pull strength(you can have it pulled by your average electrician on "hulk mode" without being scared by having the cable destroyed), is as thin as a average electrical wire, some brands like fraenkische makes conduits with integrated pof (link) so you can have a decent link speed on small bore conduits if you renovate your house. The mayor issue with pof is future proofing, unlike cat6+ or om3+ fibre you cannot pull a cable which will just require newer switches to run faster, you will run at cable speed plus you have a first gen homeplug/wifi scenario where there is not a clean-cut worldwide standard but you need to fit all your household with the same brand of media converters or you won't be sure to have a stable connection(most cheap kits have low power leds so don't expect to be able to have point-to-point pulls longer than 30-50m which is a decent length for small homes but you may have issues on bigger ones).

So the main selling point for pof is being easy to deploy on a do-it-yourself angle for low skill home owner or electrician, no investment required for termination kits(no investment on connectors either), relatively cheap(compared to the bulk fibre and the termination cost) and thin wires(compared to cat5+ or preterminated GOF cables). If you have the required kit, skills and budget to deploy GOF there is no point but most people haven't

If you manage to get the casacom kit i would love to have it reviewed so i can see if it's worth buying or not for my house

EDIT: I forgot to answer to the "Can't you just use powerline/MoCA?" angle, due to the tiny conduits there are rarely more than two main power circuits in your average household making powerline quite unreliable during parts of the day(i have a tplink av1200 kit where i get say 750-800 on a low load and it drops to 350-450 when say the microwave or the dishwasher is on), cable coax is not that common as far as i know so the only coax you see is the TV aerial one which is rarely present in more than one or two rooms per household so it's a worse prospect than powerline(i've yet to see a moca kit sold here)

 

[ociordia]

Hi Matteo,

Fully agree with your analysis.
Just to comments:

1. The CASACOM kit is using KDPOF´s chipset which warrantees 1 Gbps (true speed, no messing around with mktg. tricks) over step index POF. You don´t need to use GOF to get the Gigabit. This means "cheap" fibre (20-40 cents/m) deliver Gigabit. You are right that the link budget with the existing red LEDs limit the reach to 50-80 meters but even over this limit and up to 100 meters you can get decent speeds (750 Mbps...).
2. The existing commercial products in the market which deliver 1 Gbps over SI-POF (not only CASACOM but the ones from Fränkische, Homefibre or Actelser) comply with the ETSI (and future IEEE 802.3) technical specification. This means that they are interoperable. As an example of this "market proven" solution, Telefónica is deploying next 2016 the Gigabit POF technology on his VIP customers who complain on WiFi coverage and would like to see their full FTTH speed all over their homes. Telefónica will never stick to a "non standard" technology.

In regards to the CASACOM kit I have to say that it is easy to install (plug and play), reliable and well presented. Maybe the length of POF that includes is too short for some uses ( 30 meters) and you will need to procure more meters apart (with the obvious in line connector which adds attenuation to the link and thus reduces the reach..).

The kit flavor with just 2 media converters is fine. The kit flavor that includes a WiFi AP might be a bit disappointing as the performance of the AP is far below what you might expect on other commercial products which are not POF enabled. In this case I would better recommend the kit with 2 MC and buy the WiFi AP apart (check Small Net Builder reviews). (I just hope the guys from CASACOM don´t see this comment or I will have problems )

Reseller price is clearly out of any reasonable mind but it should be reducing quickly as the market expands and big operators like Telefónica make this technology popular.

Regards,

Óscar

 

[Matteo Saitta]

Hi Matteo,

Fully agree with your analysis.
Just to comments:

1. The CASACOM kit is using KDPOF´s chipset which warrantees 1 Gbps (true speed, no messing around with mktg. tricks) over step index POF. You don´t need to use GOF to get the Gigabit. This means "cheap" fibre (20-40 cents/m) deliver Gigabit. You are right that the link budget with the existing red LEDs limit the reach to 50-80 meters but even over this limit and up to 100 meters you can get decent speeds (750 Mbps...).
2. The existing commercial products in the market which deliver 1 Gbps over SI-POF (not only CASACOM but the ones from Fränkische, Homefibre or Actelser) comply with the ETSI (and future IEEE 802.3) technical specification. This means that they are interoperable. As an example of this "market proven" solution, Telefónica is deploying next 2016 the Gigabit POF technology on his VIP customers who complain on WiFi coverage and would like to see their full FTTH speed all over their homes. Telefónica will never stick to a "non standard" technology.

1&2 are strictly tied as there is just very few gigabit over pof chipset makers, devices are interoperable due to having pretty much the same design template from KDPOF more than the strict implementation of VDE/ETSI standards I am unsure about IEEE 802.3 being 100% compatible with VDE 0885-763-1, I believe something along the lines of G.hn is more likely(same features, entirely different MAC layer compared to AV2) hopefully using the same type of fiber so no new pull required.

Can i bother you with some infos about gigabit pof, maybe on PM? Thank you