Winning Out in a New Round of Market Competition

An Interview with Huang Liqing, President of ZTE’s Wireline Product R&D Institute

Tri-network convergence involving telecom, radio and TV, and Internet networks has attracted industry attention in China, and the need for Fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) has grown considerably. Faced with a new round of market competition, telecom and cable TV operators are actively seeking to enhance access bandwidth. Optical access technology is entering a rapid-growth period, and bearer networks are undergoing great change to accommodate the upsurge in data traffic. Huang Liqing, President of ZTE’s Wireline Product R&D Institute was recently interviewed by ZTE journalist Fang Li. Huang expressed confidence that with 25 years experience in the wireline sector, ZTE can outperform the competition.

Journalist: What is the development trend of future wireline networks? How will ZTE innovate with its technologies to meet future trends?
Huang: Future wireline networks are clearly moving towards broadband IP access, flat architecture, and intelligent, optimized operation and management. Network devices will also evolve so that they can operate on an integrated platform.
Service expansion has driven the rapid growth of network processing capacity and bearer bandwidth. Operators in China, Europe, and the United States all plan to offer 50-100Mbps bandwidth to home users and Terabit bandwidth to Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) within the next five to ten years. Broadband networks require much higher processing capacity at the core and interfaces.
We have prepared ourselves to provide 100G WDM equipment, and have now started pre-research into equipment supporting 100G (or greater) interfaces. Our 100G WDM equipment has differentiated advantages in terms of integration, power consumption, and transmission distance. These can be attributed to our continuous investment in product R&D. We have invested considerable resources into 100G chips and software, and have cooperated with universities and high-end electronic manufacturers. We keep abreast of the most advanced developments in 100G data and transmission equipment.
Capitalizing on our leading position in the DSL access market, we have also succeeded in PON access. In large-scale EPON deployments across China, ZTE has led the market with its strong technical strength and high-quality products. We have also been researching and pushing forward NG-PON technology. In September 2008, we launched world’s first 10G EPON prototype; and in May 2009, the world’s first symmetric 10G EPON prototype. ZTE worked with operators to conduct a 10G EPON test in July 2009, and launched the world’s first 10G EPON commercial trial in September. Research has also been conducted into 10G GPON and we are keeping close track of the latest developments in this field. We are the industry leader in the NG-PON field.
Flat network architecture will inevitably lead to equipment convergence, and planning is underway for a universal architecture which can accommodate different equipment. By designing a unified platform, it may be possible to converge our existing data, transmission, and access equipment. This will bring many benefits to operators. It could speed up the time-to-market for new services, ZTE series products could be maintained with the same spare boards and parts, and new equipment combinations could be quickly assembled using additional interfaces. A unified platform would also significantly improve ZTE’s R&D efficiency and shorten the product development cycle. In designing a universal platform, we will draw upon 25 years of technology accumulation in the wireline sector.
Cooperation with operators and universities is also vital, and we have proposed differentiated solutions. For clock and time synchronization for packet-switched transmission, we took the lead by using IEEE 1588 V2 protocol and Ethernet in PTN products to substitute GPS time synchronization. In substitution tests conducted by China Mobile, this solution achieved outstanding results, and other manufacturers have taken note. We are now undertaking further research, and continue to lead the industry in this area.

J: The widespread commercialization of 3G networks has brought about an upsurge in data traffic. What requirements does this place on future transport network?
Huang: In the initial stages of 2G and 3G development, Multi-Service Transport Platform (MSTP) provided good support. But as 3G are more widely deployed, problems such as low data transfer efficiency, rigid transmission pipe, low bandwidth utilization, and inflexible channel configuration occur. Operators therefore seek a new transport network that can carry data services in a more flexible and cost-effective way. Packet Transport Network (PTN) has been proposed as the transport technology of the future. The transition from MSTP to PTN is actually an evolution from IP interface to IP core—from circuit-switched core to packet-switched core—which creates higher data transfer efficiency.
Over the past two years, PTN technologies and standards have evolved and matured. ZTE has cooperated closely with domestic and overseas operators in PTN equipment R&D. China Mobile has focused on PTN since April 2007. It began laboratory tests in September 2007, and launched the first PTN equipment tender in November 2009. Now, the PTN network deployed by China Mobile is the largest in the world. We have worked with China Mobile on PTN deployment, and this has involved identifying demands and defining standards. ZTE is a member of more than 70 international standards organizations and forums, and has submitted more than 100 proposals in the area of PTN. This has profoundly influenced the industry. Having benefited from its performance in PTN, ZTE is ranked third in the global optical networking industry according to Ovum’s latest report “Market Share: 1Q10 Optical Networks, Global and Regional”.

J: Tri-network convergence will push operators to speed up broadband connection. What modes have they used for their FTTx rollout, and how will they evolve in the future?
Huang: Chinese operators currently adopt three modes for broadband access: FTTH, FTTB, and FTTC. Of these, FTTB is the mainstream option. EPON has been deployed on a large scale throughout China, reaching a capacity of 60 million lines, while GPON has been deployed on a small scale. Neither EPON nor GPON can meet future broadband requirements. Therefore, both telecom and cable TV operators have devised long-term bandwidth plans, aimed at delivering 50-100Mbps bandwidth to each home user. If this eventuates, Gigabit bandwidth will be required for buildings, and Terabit bandwidth for MAN areas. To satisfy bandwidth requirements, upgrading xPON to 10G PON, EPON to 10G EPON, and GPON to 10G GPON will be necessary.
10G EPON standards were released in September 2009, almost one year earlier than 10G GPON standards. Symmetric bandwidth in the uplink and downlink has been defined for 10G EPON, and asymmetric bandwidth has been defined for 10G GPON. The evolution from EPON to 10G EPON represents enhanced network capability. EPON and 10G EPON terminals can share the same PON port, and terminals can be upgraded according to bandwidth needs. However, evolution from GPON to 10G GPON is a different process because GPON and 10G GPON terminals cannot share the same PON port. The 10G EPON industry chain has matured over the past two years so that 10G EPON has advantages over 10G GPON in terms of network deployment and standard maturity.

J: What progress has ZTE made in 10G PON?
Huang: ZTE launched the world’s first symmetric 10G EPON prototype in May 2009, and has since taken a leading position in the 10G EPON field. As a leading PON equipment vendor, ZTE has long been engaged in studying 10G xPON standards.  We have participated in national and international conferences and put forward many important proposals. In 2009, we hosted the IEEE 10G EPON conference. Dr. Marek Hajduczenia of ZTE has been an editor for IEEE 10G EPON, chief editor for IEEE Service Interoperability in EPON (SIEPON), and editor for physical layers of ITU-T NG-PON, contributing greatly to standardization work on 10G EPON.
In April 2010, we joined several 10G EPON chip manufacturers including PMC-Sierra, Broadcom, and Opulan to conduct interoperability tests. The results show that our 10G EPON equipment has matured. So far, we have conducted 10G EPON commercial trials in more than 20 provinces across China.
ZTE has also continued its investment into GPON and 10G GPON. We have submitted around 50 10G GPON proposals to FSAN and ITU-T, and have participated in the drafting of ITU-T G987.2 standards for 10G GPON. In December 2009, we helped Telecom Italia in its commercial deployment of FTTB using GPON+VDSL2.

J: Finally, would you talk about the efforts ZTE have made in environmental protection and energy conservation?
Huang: Today’s operators are increasingly attuned to energy conservation and emissions reduction. ZTE shares this concern. Environmental protection is at the forefront of our thinking in product design, manufacturing, application, and recovery. 
Our energy saving and emission reduction strategies are focused on network, technology, equipment, and operation. We attach great importance to developing flat, converged, and smoothly evolved networks that limit energy consumption of DSL, LAN, PON, POTS and WiFi technologies, and that adopt energy-saving modes in chip, board, and equipment. We have been developing power technologies for telecom products for the past 20 years, and we own core technologies in this area. ZTE is proud to be the leading provider of cost-effective power solutions. We supply system power, core power, and electromechanical management with power efficiency exceeding 96% and modular power efficiency exceeding 95%.
We provide core chip design that integrates different functions into one chip. This minimizes equipment size and reduces power consumption. In chip manufacturing, we adopt sophisticated techniques to reduce radiation. Through intelligent management, chips or ports not in use are set to “idle”, which reduces energy consumption by around 50%. Small-sized equipment does not need air cooling. And for equipment that does require air cooling, smart fan control technology is used. Lowering fan speed can save energy by 20%. Our equipment recovery rate exceeds 80% and board recovery rate is up to 50%.
ZTE has the widest and most complete product range in the industry. This allows us to quickly and thoroughly implement our energy saving and emission reduction strategies. We have made great inroads into energy conservation and environmental protection. In 2008, our broadband access product ZXDSL 9806 received “Best Green Innovation” award at the SOFNET forum in London. In 2009, our ZXDSL 9806H passed the China Environmental Labeling (Type II) certification. This certification involved an energy efficiency evaluation, harmful substance inspection, and product recovery and disassembly analysis. It was the first time a telecom product had been granted such certification.