Kontron Broadband and Planet Networks Partner to Bring 10-Gigabit Fiber Availability in the U.S

Kontron America has announced a strategic partnership with Planet Networks to accelerate the deployment of fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) broadband services across New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Enhancing Broadband Access with Tailored Solutions
As part of this partnership, Planet Networks is implementing an end-to-end fiber broadband solution powered by Kontron’s advanced hardware and software portfolio. This includes Optical Line Terminals (OLTs), 10G XGS-PON Optical Network Terminals (ONTs), and next-generation Mesh Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7 Customer Premises Equipment (CPEs)—all seamlessly integrated ensuring ease of transition with existing platforms and paired with an intuitive software management platform to streamline deployment and operations.

Expanding Fiber Connectivity with Scalable Solutions
Planet Networks has connected subscribers on the Kontron platform today, with plans to connect over 30,000 subscribers within the next year and over 100,000 over the next several years. Planet offers its fiber Internet service to over 100,000 homes today with plans to more than triple that number over the next several years. This rapid expansion is made possible, in part, by Kontron’s ability to meet Planet Networks’ specific needs for high-reliability best-in-class solutions and services with industry-leading value. With 10GbE XGS-PON, Planet Networks has the capability to offer ultra-fast broadband speeds up to 10Gbit/s, ensuring ample network bandwidth to meet Planet’s customers’ needs for years to come.

Kontron's commitment to interoperability ensures seamless integration with legacy equipment, providing a true open platform that allows Internet providers like Planet Networks to mix and match OLTs, ONTs, and CPEs from different vendors. For Planet Networks, this flexibility allowed them to easily connect their existing multiple vendor ONTs to Kontron’s new OLT’s and upgrade from 1Gbit/s GPON to 10Gbit/s XGS-PON while supporting both existing GPON and new XGS-PON (COMBO PON) technologies. As a result, Planet Networks was able to leverage their existing investments in already deployed networking equipment without requiring expensive truck rolls or interruptions to customers while improving overall network performance and scalability.

As part of the Planet Networks partnership, Kontron demonstrated its agility and focus on customer-driven product development by utilizing existing field-proven design for 10G XGS-PON ONTs while adding Planet specific features including Power over Ethernet (PoE), ruggedized housing, high-temperature operation, and other requested features delivering a prototype in just six weeks.

Furthermore, Kontron’s advanced hardware design and flexible software algorithms on its OLTs enabled Planet Networks to achieve a 50% increase in customer Wi-Fi performance without replacing already deployed ONTs and CPEs, enhancing connectivity and delivering a better customer experience.