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Verizon now has the ability to provide a 10 Gbps broadband connection both downstream and upstream for its customers. The company acquired this ability as it completes the world's first field trial of an advanced fiber-optic transmission technology known as XG-PON2.

The company all set to reach new speeds in the broadband technology with the successful completion of this test, stated Verizon (News - Alert).

The trial was conducted at a customer's business in Taunton, Mass., and it utilized the same optical fiber that provides that business with its existing FiOS (News - Alert) network connection and services and employed a pre-standard XG-PON2 technology. To provide five FiOS TV connections to the business' customers, the 10 Gbps signal was transmitted over the FiOS connection that the Taunton business currently uses for its Internet connection.

“This trial demonstrates the capacity of Verizon's FiOS network to provide even greater upstream bandwidth capabilities required for adoption on a mass scale of new and emerging residential applications like user-generated video, as well as business services," said Brian Whitton, executive director of technology for Verizon, in a press release.  "High-definition video sharing, 3D video, video telephony, telemedicine, and offsite backups and storage services are few applications that will take advantage of the expanded capacity.”

Since the GPON and XG-PON2 signals were layered over the same fiber for the trial, there was no impairment to the business customer's data service and none of the FiOS TV connections were affected by the trial. The XG-PON2 prototype system was implemented using the same wavelengths that were standardized for an earlier version of the XG-PON technology and was developed by Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert), which provides a GPON system used by Verizon.

Recently, the company completed the network alliance with Gateway (News - Alert) Business, an Africa-based leading provider of pan-African corporate connectivity and telecommunications. Gateway Business, an arm of Vodacom Group, has customers in 42 sub-Saharan countries and works in partnership with Africa's largest businesses and many of the world's principal corporations, helping them stay connected across Africa and into the rest of the world.