Passive Optical Networking (PON) has been around for multiple decades, however it’s only been in the last handful of years that it’s starting to bleed into commercial and hospitality buildings.
At a high level, PON is a point to multipoint fiber distribution system. In other words, it takes one fiber and splits it into many fibers that end at something called an Optical Network Terminal (ONT). In the hotel world, an ONT would be placed in every (or every other) room. From the ONT, copper connections would come from there to wall plates or locations throughout the hotel room. With traditional copper, each copper location has to be “home ran” from the floor IDF’s. So, with PON, you can have a single fiber going to each hotel room as opposed to multiple copper cables with a traditional copper design.
While PON brings many benefits, cost is still the biggest prohibitor of every hotel embracing it. If only there were a way to get some of the same benefits as PON, but in a more cost-effective model.
Enter the Ruckus H510 and Aruba 303H. These wireless access points (WAP) are not new. They’ve been leading in the hospitality industry for many years. What’s changed is how these WAP’s have morphed into an Optical Network Terminal (ONT).
PON’s true backbone is the ONT. It’s where you start when you design a PON system. You asses each edge device that will be connected to each ONT, then you figure out which ONT would work best. Within the ONT software, you can create VLAN’s, assign ports and secure your network. ONT’s even have PoE capability to power things like a phone or WAP.
The H510 and 303H are changing the way we think of WAP’s and how we design infrastructure to support it. They each have 4 managed ports at the bottom of each WAP and one of those ports have 15 watts of PoE power available. Since each of the ports are managed, hotels can secure each port and configure ports in VLAN’s, like ONT’s.
The impact these WAP’s can have on cabling infrastructure can be grand. Like PON, with these WAP’s, only one copper cable (ideally Cat 6A) needs to be run to each hotel room. The WAP’s are commonly mounted behind the TV. From there, copper cable (likely Cat 6) would run from the WAP to additional locations throughout the hotel room.
Here’s a real-world example. We bid a large hotel (988 rooms) that was doing a remodel. For PON, the aggressive price came to just under $1,200 per room. Using the Ruckus H510 as the design backbone, we were able to eliminate the cost of the ONT’s and OLT’s, yet we were still able to get 4 cables per room. This brough the cost down to about $700 per room, a 42% decrease in cost.
The disclaimer on this is copper still has its limits. If you think at some point a hotel room will ever need 10G or more, fiber is a better solution now, since it can handle it. PON is still a better “future-proofing” option, however knowing that most hoteliers don’t think further than 5 years out, it’s hard for them to swallow the higher cost for a property they may not own 5 years out.
PON and this alternative each have their advantages. Just because something costs more, doesn’t make it a bad option. Please reach out for more info.