Alphabet soup aside, the speed boost is impressive, but arguably the most important development is embedding processing for AI workloads at the edge
Broadcom is launching what it describes as the industry’s first merchant silicon 50G passive optical network (PON) optical line terminal-optical network unit (OLT-ONU) devices. Somewhat confusingly, it says the products are generally available, but adds “Broadcom is currently sampling the BCM68660 and BCM55050 devices to its early access customers and partners”.
The BCM68660 is a standalone system on a chip (SoC) and interoperates with the BCM55050 50G PON ONU, and other 50G ONUs that comply with the International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector’s (ITU-T) 50G PON standard.
AI at the edge
Their purpose of the two products is to provide operators an end-to-end, 50G PON ecosystem of solutions for 50G fibre broadband and, through an embedded neural processing unit (NPU) to accelerate AI and ML at the edge. Running AI/ML algorithms at the edge reduces latency and cloud storage costs.
In addition, AI/ML at the edge keeps consumers’ data private by retaining it on-premise rather than risking interception in the network, Broadcom states.
Also, edge AI/ML algorithms can detect attempted intrusion by hackers and identify and resolve Wi-Fi and IoT issues in the home, reducing support costs for operators. The algorithms can enable anomaly detection and network self-healing, facilitate predictive power management, detect and classify patterns in the network, and support network optimisation.
Broadcom observes that the migration from GPON to XGS-PON is in full swing, but fibre broadband networks must keep pace with growing bandwidth needs. At the same time, the networks need to support “emerging AI applications” and better network performance and power efficiency.
Broadcom’s goal is to “future-proof” already deployed GPON and XGS-PON networks by adding new, standards-based tech to support “flexible options and seamless migration to higher speeds to support high bandwidth applications”.
Better customer experience
The company says its 50G PON solution is 40x faster and has lower latency than current gigabit solutions, improving consumers’ broadband, enabling, for instance, smoother video calls and live streaming, and faster responsiveness for gaming.
The company says the greater bandwidth will enable new applications including 5G small cells to support autonomous driving and network slicing.
With a high level of integration in low power 7nm technology, the BCM68660 and BCM55050 also use less power than current solutions.
Jaimie Lenderman, Principal Analyst and Research Manager at Omdia, comments, “As fibre PON technology evolves to meet growing demands, it’s becoming more versatile, unlocking applications and use cases for AI/ML beyond traditional residential use.
“50G PON with AI/ML capabilities is…advancing access networks into a new era – one that goes beyond speed, enabling next-generation connections across a broad range of subscribers and industries.”