Verizon said its latest next-generation passive optical networking (NG-PON2) trial hit a top speed of 34 Gb/s over bonded wavelength channels. That result furthers the carrier’s plans to offer small- and mid-sized businesses a new option for backhaul services.

The test was conducted with network partner Calix at Verizon’s Innovation Center in Massachusetts. It used Calix’s Axos system to bond together four wavelength channels using software at the optical network terminal (ONT). Each of those channels supported multi-gigabit speeds.

“Bonding the wavelengths together in this way allowed Verizon to deliver speeds far in excess of what each individual wavelength could deliver, and when commercialized will provide an unprecedented level of connection for business customers,” the carrier noted in a statement.

The trial builds on Verizon’s past work with Calix. That included a trial early last year that used Calix’s Axos Routing Protocol module for Layer 3, the Axos Subscriber Management module, and Calix’s E9-2 Intelligent Edge System on the optical line terminal (OTL) to produce symmetrical throughput speeds of 8 GB/s in a live network.

Calix had previously noted that an in-house trial delivered aggregate bandwidth up to 80 Gb/s over a single fiber strand. It used its SDN software platform to leverage channel bonding.

Operators are increasing their use of SDN control over PON assets to boost the performance of deployed fiber. PON uses a point-to-multipoint architecture to enable a single optical fiber to serve multiple end-points.

SDN control over optical networks can allow operators to manage port speeds, protocols, and wavelengths; support more advanced modulation and detection schemes; and provide for flexible wavelength routing via dynamic reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM) technology.

These efforts revolve around a multitude of different technologies like transport-SDN (T-SDN), NG-PON2, and XGS-PON. There are also open source efforts led by different organizations, including the Open ROADM MultiSource Agreement, the Telecom Infra Project’s Open Optical Packet Transport Group, the Open Networking Foundation (ONF), and OIF.

While Verizon is tracking on the NG-PON2 route, rival AT&T is barreling down the XGS-PON road. AT&T last year touted a field trial using open source software to control the network assets.

XGS-PON technology is a fixed wavelength symmetrical 10 Gb/s platform. Eddy Barker, assistant vice president for access architecture and design at AT&T, said that XGS-PON provides up to four-times greater downlink bandwidth and up to eight-times greater uplink bandwidth capacity compared with traditional GPON.

Barker said the carrier has looked at NG-PON2, but felt the financial model around XGS-PON was more compelling. He added that AT&T may ultimately decide it needs more capacity and go with NG-PON2, though the ongoing evolution of PON could override that need.

“We can see going forward if we need to go there or if we jump over NG-PON2 with the next iteration,” Barker said. “Standards bodies are working today on next-generation plans that can support up to 100 Gb/s, so we will continue to see where we need to go.”

Vincent O’Byrne, director of technology planning at Verizon, previously told SDxCentral that alternative solutions like 10G EPON and XGS-PON would not work as “longer term” solutions for the carrier’s needs.

“NG-PON2 is a platform that will meet the customers’ envisioned needs for the next decade or more given its many evolution paths as well as bringing many operational benefits to simplify the network,” O’Byrne said. “It represents a paradigm shift in the design of access networks.”

UPDATE: This story has been updated to clarify that the trial used bonded wavelength channels.