How Flexible Should the Access Network Be?

Co-organisers: Fabienne Saliou, Orange S.A, Michela Svaluto Moreolo, CTTC,  Paola Parolari, Politecnico Di Milano,  Paulo Monteiro, University of Aveiro

Future optical access networks will have to support a variety of service demands from metaverse users to industry 4.0 and 6G devices, while coping with energy footprint and saving commitments. This translates into different possible network topologies and access equipment configurations. The workshop will debate how much flexibility will be required to provide the best network for any usage. A first session will be dedicated to current flexibility levels discussed for Higher Speed PONs, including: flex FEC to optimize the effective user bandwidth, cooperative DBA to sustain low latency services over PONs, adaptive DSP for PON upstream support…etc. A second session will cover longer-term evolutions towards flexible access networks. Is the flex rate of up to 200Gbit/s in PONs a sustainable option? Will the evolution of OLTs and next-generation central offices be based on all photonic networks? How can the photonic bypass provide flexibility for high-demand services? Can the current WDM PON revival prompt flexibility? Which sleep modes are applicable in a flexible network? Which control layer evolution is required for flexible configurations? Which will be the impact on the interoperability? Is a flexible integration viable for multi-technology modules? These questions will be answered by the panel of invited operators, system vendors, and academic researchers.

Session 1

Standardization towards future flexible access networks

Jun-Shan Wey, Verizon Communications

PON Flexibility Now and in the Future

Robert Borkowski, Nokia Bell Labs

Signal processing opportunities for flexible access networks

Gaël Simon, Orange Labs

Technical exploration of low delay and determinism in PON

Dezhi Zhang, China Academy of Telecommunication Research

Panel discussion

Session 2

Cost-effective and flexible transmission in all photonics metro/access networks

Ryo Koma, Nippon Telegragh and Telephone Corporation 

Transport network flexibility for vertical services support in fixed/mobile convergence

Paola Iovanna, Ericsson

Flexible access-metro supporting scalable and sustainable Open RAN

Marco Ruffini, University of Dublin

Flexible Access Networks - What? Why? How?

Derek Nesset, Huawei

Panel Discussion