Late last week, Motorola announced that Medicine Park is deploying Motorola’s GPON solution with fully-integrated RF return path. It’s another rural win for the Access Networks business, and Medicine Park will be using the FTTH network for faster Internet speeds while continuing to deliver video via RF set-tops.

From the press release:

“Motorola has an unparalleled track record in FTTH networks with customers large and small around the world,” says Edward Hilliary, Jr. of Medicine Park. “We chose to work with Motorola because of its technology and its real-world deployment experience. We’ve also been impressed with the way Motorola develops evolving technologies, making sure that the network upgrades we make today can support the demands and innovation of tomorrow.”

Out of $310 million, just under $4 million has been dedicated to building out DSL networks in Alabama, and a scant $375,630 has been handed out for a WiMAX installation in Iowa. All of the other last-mile funds are being granted to projects relying on fiber-to-the-home deployments.

It’s an interesting statement on greenfield broadband in the US. If this round of funding (or Motorola’s recent ONT-shipment milestone) is any indication, fiber is a hands-down winner.

Consumers still aren’t hooked on upstream speeds the way they are on downstream, but it’s only a matter of time until that changes. Not only are HD video cameras multiplying, but expectations for sharing multimedia content are evolving and will continue to evolve. Home networking is on the rise, mobile broadband is increasingly popular, and cloud services are popping up everywhere. All of those factors mean that consumers expect to be able to move their digital stuff around and access it from anywhere. And that requires both downstream and upstream bandwidth.

Even as Verizon is touting higher upstream speeds now, cable operators have their own upstream offensive in the works. Back in October, Motorola announced a new upstream card for cablecos using the BSR 64000 CMTS. The RX48 card packs 48 upstream ports in the space of the 8 upstream ports available today, and when you bond those newly-available upstream channels together, upstream Internet speeds skyrocket. In addition, Motorola has been working with several operators to make use of a DOCSIS 2.0 upstream technology. S-CDMA, which is part of the DOCSIS 2.0 spec, can be used to clean up low-spectrum frequencies and increase upstream capacity by around 50%.

It’s the eve of SCTE Cable-Tec Expo here in the States, but in the Middle East, industry focus is on FTTX Megna, a fiber networks conference taking place in Dubai. The conference is only in its second year, but it is addressing a rapidly growing industry in the region. The pace of broadband development in the Middle East has skyrocketed since 2003, and while initially there was a push toward DSL deployments, more recently the trend is toward fiber.

There are several differences between the US and Middle East markets that help explain how the two are developing differently. First, a lack of broadband penetration in the Middle East until recent years kept demand for higher Internet speeds down. However, speed demands are increasing as more and more people get connected, which in turn means there is a more urgent need for higher-capacity network infrastructure.

Second, cable networks are almost non-existent in the Middle East. Since cable networks can support 100+ Mbps speeds, their absence also creates greater urgency for fiber.

Third, the DSL infrastructure that delivers broadband in the region today is not standardized the way it is in the US. Loop lengths vary widely, which means quality of broadband service varies widely as well. Again, this creates more urgency for fiber.

Motorola’s Middle East headquarters are in Dubai, and the company is one of the sponsors for this week’s FTTX Megna event. In fact, at least one Motorola executive will be speaking at the conference. As fiber spreads in the region, more of Motorola’s attention has turned to wireline networks as a complement to wireless technology in the Middle East. And not only is Motorola selling network equipment, but there is demand for Motorola’s network design expertise as well, particularly as a company that has been established in the region for decades.

I’ll be focused primarily on Cable-Tec Expo in the next several days, but it’s not the only place Motorola will be this week. For more information on FTTX Megna, visit the conference website.

Here I was just talking about ONTs, and today Motorola has news out announcing that the company has shipped its one millionth optical network terminal. That’s a lot of fiber deployments. Check out the ONT timeline above. (Click to enlarge) Motorola shipped its first ONT to Comcast back in 2001. Now Motorola has ONTs deployed all over the world – from the US, to China, Europe, and the Middle East.

Meanwhile, regarding my earlier speculation on ONT convergence, I had forgotten that Motorola actually showed a prototype device at the FTTH Council show last month combining a traditional ONT with a home router and wireless access point. Is this the future of GPON CPE?

I can only guess that there will more convergence happening in ONTs in the future, particularly with the trend toward moving ONTs indoors.

More photos from the FTTH Expo have floated my way, including the shot above of the Motorola ONT1600GET for multi-dwelling unit (MDU) environments.  This one has twelve Internet ports and is already widely deployed by Verizon. (The joke on the show floor is that it’s bulletproof. Certainly looks that way.)

Meanwhile, a new customer announcement also hit the wires today. Cincinnati Bell has chosen Motorola’s GPON solution (OLTs and ONTs) for deployment of its own all-fiber network. Also part of the deal: Motorola modulation, encryptor, and encoding technology.

The 2009 FTTH Conference and Expo has kicked off down in Houston, and ONTs (Optical Network Terminals) are making a big appearance in the Motorola booth. There are a couple of items to note here. First, ONTs are making a move from outside to inside the house. Case in point: Motorola is showing off an indoor ONT for Verizon.

Second, Motorola has a prototype out of a new ONT that does away with any type of RF video. You know, for when we move to an all-IP world. The SF24200 (no RF) and the SF24210  (with RF) are small boxes with USB ports, eight hours of battery back-up,  voice ports, data ports, and an embedded router. More details to come.

The 2009 FTTH Conference and Expo starts up next week with sessions covering everything from broadband stimulus proposals, to MDU delivery, to RFOG. I won’t be making the Houston trip, but Motorola will certainly be there. In fact, the first pre-show press release from Motorola went out yesterday – a GPON deal with Middleburgh Telephone Company outside of Albany New York.

Meanwhile, the FTTH Council has posted an interview (PDF link) with Verizon CTO Dick Lynch from earlier in the month that’s worth a read. Mr. Lynch is doing a keynote presentation at next week’s conference, and he elaborates somewhat in this article on what Verizon has planned for its FTTH networks in the future. There’s a focus on home network applications that certainly jives with other Verizon articles and posts I’ve read recently. No doubt we’ll hear more out of next week’s event.

With Broadband World Forum and IBC this week, and 4G World next week, there’s a lot of conference news starting to trickle out. And stay tuned, because that trickle looks to turn into a flood.

To start, Motorola announced yesterday (not everyone was on holiday…) that Czech operator Magnalink has signed a deal for Motorola GPON technology and IP set-tops. The GPON win in particular is interesting to me as it signals continued interest in fiber-to-the-home technologies worldwide and continuing support for GPON in particular.

Also from Broadband World Forum comes news today that Motorola has received an International Engineering Consortium (IEC) InfoVision award for the company’s CDMA 9100 Series femtocell. While news of femtocells has faded since the initial wave of enthusiasm, clearly development continues.

And finally, in advance of 4G World next week, Motorola has an announcement out this morning outlining the company’s participation in the event including keynote presentations. This is the first year of 4G World since its initial incarnation as WiMAX World. The newly designated conference will focus on WiMAX and LTE, and Motorola will showcase both technologies as well.