Each PON generation has added interoperability challenges, from G-PON through 50G-PON and the emerging VHSP, which all share the same point-to-multipoint outside plant. This raises physical-layer questions of coexistence, wavelength band allocation, filtering, and power budget. At the protocol layer, it also requires alignment on management, OMCI, channel control, model-driven abstraction, and emerging AI-driven management interoperability.
Mass-market deployment adds a further requirement: multi-vendor and multi-agent interoperability frameworks between OLTs and ONUs must ensure secure, scalable, and open ecosystems, verified by certification and field-scale testing rather than laboratory demonstrations alone.
This panel reviews how standards have addressed PON interoperability, where it works, where challenges remain, and why. Panelists will debate which interoperability requirements must be locked down now, while 50G-PON is deploying and VHSP is still being defined with new DSP-based physical layers and AI-driven architectural requirements. The aim is to learn from earlier generations and define better interoperable implementations.
Organizers
-
Frank Effenberger
Futurewei Technologies Inc., United States
-
Gabriele di Rosa
,
-
Luyao Huang
China Telecom Research Institute, China
-
Vincent Houtsma
Nokia Bell Labs, United States
-
Zhensheng Jia
CableLabs, United States