Replace OLT Device: Asterfusion’s GPON Campus Solution with OLT Stick Module, SONiC & OpenWiFi

Introduction

Over the years, fiber-based solutions originally designed for FTTB/FTTH have become increasingly mature. Now, many are looking to bring the same approach into campus networks. Why? Because fiber is not only a proven and more affordable technology, but it also solves the limitations of traditional copper cables, which can no longer keep up with today’s demands for speed and flexible deployment.

With Asterfusion’s GPON Campus Network Solution, campuses can achieve high-speed connectivity while simplifying cabling, cutting costs, and enabling flexible scalability. Let’s take a closer look at how this solution helps upgrade campus networks for the future.

Ⅰ. How Does PON Design for FTTB/FTTH Traditionally

First, let’s take a look at how traditional optical solutions work. In the typical FTTB (Fiber to the Building) / FTTH (Fiber to the Home) architecture, the process goes like this:

1. Data from the operator’s core or metro network arrives at the OLT (Optical Line Terminal) in standard Ethernet protocol.
2. Inside the OLT, the traffic is converted into the PON (Passive Optical Network) protocol.
3. The signal is then distributed through the ODN (Optical Distribution Network), using passive splitters to fan out a single fiber into multiple connections.
4. At the user side, an ONU (Optical Network Unit) converts the PON signal back into Ethernet, which is then handed off to a home router and finally delivered to end devices such as PCs, smartphones, or TV boxes.

In this process, there are two key questions to address:

1. Why convert Ethernet to PON at the OLT?

• Shared transmission: PON is a point-to-multipoint architecture, allowing a single fiber to serve dozens or even hundreds of users. This avoids the high cost of running individual fibers to every endpoint.
• Bandwidth scheduling: The PON protocol uses a specific frame structure and upstream/downstream mechanism. Downstream traffic is broadcast from the OLT to all ONUs, with each ONU only receiving the data meant for it. Upstream traffic is scheduled via Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) by the OLT to prevent collisions between users.
• Transmission efficiency: Flexible frame-based allocation improves upstream and downstream bandwidth utilization, maximizing fiber efficiency.
• Cost advantages: Using passive splitters reduces the need for active repeaters, lowering cabling, maintenance, and energy costs.

2. Why convert PON back to Ethernet at the ONU?

• Device compatibility: Home and office devices only support Ethernet and cannot directly understand PON frames.
• Protocol restoration: The ONU converts PON frames back into standard Ethernet frames, providing RJ45 or Wi-Fi interfaces for end devices.

In short, the Ethernet ↔ PON ↔ Ethernet conversion exists because PON enables cost-effective deployment, high fiber utilization, and centralized management, while end devices still require Ethernet to ensure compatibility and a consistent user experience.

Know more about PON ? Click here.

Ⅱ. What the Asterfusion GPON Campus Network Solution Offers

We are making changes in the following three points:

1. Replacing OLT and ONU Devices

In a traditional FTTB/FTTH setup, the OLT is usually a standalone, dedicated device. It is not only expensive, but also requires GPON SFP modules and Ethernet SFP+ modules to connect to the network. While this approach may make sense in an operator environment, it is often too complex and costly for campus deployments.

With Asterfusion’s solution, the OLT Stick integrates the OLT functionality into a compact module, replacing the full-size OLT. This eliminates the need for multiple optical modules and significantly streamlines the network architecture, making deployment simpler and more cost-effective.

On the user side, we also replace traditional ONUs with ONU modules. Previously, an ONU required a standalone device, occupying space, power, and management resources. Now, the same functionality can be achieved simply by plugging in a module. This change not only reduces hardware costs but also makes the network topology more compact and flexible, avoiding unnecessary stacking and redundancy.

In addition, Asterfusion’s CX102S-16GT-(DPU)-M-SWP further optimizes traditional approaches for access control and user authentication. It comes equipped with two Marvell OCTEON TX2 CN9130 DPUs, one of which can serve as a local Radius Server Platform, eliminating the need for a separate physical server. This reduces rack space, cabling complexity, and network latency.

By replacing and simplifying these components, the entire campus network becomes lighter, more efficient, and lays a solid foundation for easier maintenance and future expansion.

2. Significantly Reduce Total Cost

By reducing the number of devices, we not only save on initial hardware investment but also significantly cut down on rack space, power consumption, and ongoing maintenance costs. Compared with traditional deployments, Asterfusion’s All-optical architecture achieves real cost efficiency by eliminating multiple components such as OLTs, ONUs, and standalone Radius Servers.

We will cover the specific cost differences in detail later, in section IV. How the Asterfusion GPON Campus Network Solution Helps Reduce Your TCO.

3. Campus-wide Unified Coverage and Centralized Management

By combining the all-optical solution with PoE deployment, we can meet access requirements across various campus scenarios—whether in offices, dormitories, or outdoor areas—using a single, unified network architecture. At the same time, leveraging an OpenWiFi-based controller, you can manage wired and wireless networks, access devices, and gateway routers all from one platform. This reduces operational complexity while enabling higher visibility, intelligence, and automation across the campus network.

These three aspects represent the key changes we have made in the GPON campus network solution. Next, we will dive into three specific scenarios to see exactly how these improvements are implemented in practice.

Ⅲ. Application Scenarios of the Asterfusion GPON Campus Network Solution

We will explore three specific scenarios to illustrate the practical application of this solution.

Deploy an GPON Campus Network When Ordering OLT Devices

If you are considering purchasing OLT equipment but are concerned about the high cost, the OLT Stick offers a practical solution. In a traditional setup, you would typically need a standalone OLT device, multiple GPON OLT modules, and several SFP+ modules, including those for the upstream switch.

With the OLT Stick, a single module effectively replaces all of the above:

• One single-port OLT device
• One GPON OLT module
• One OLT-side SFP+ module
• One switch-side SFP+ module

This eliminates the need for multiple modules and the OLT device itself, while significantly simplifying the network architecture. The OLT Stick can connect directly to a splitter on a one-to-one basis, enabling a cleaner, more efficient network deployment.

As shown above, for example, if your splitter has a 1:8 split ratio, connecting 24 OLT Sticks to a CX202P-24S-M-H switch with 24 SFP+ ports, and then distributing them through the splitter, allows you to support up to 192 GPON APs. This enables large-scale access with efficient coverage across the campus.

Deploy an GPON Campus Network for SMOs

For SMOs (Small and Medium-sized Operators), in addition to using OLT Sticks to replace traditional OLT devices as described earlier, you can also:

1. Save on traditional ONU devices by using ONU Stick modules.
2. Deploy a local Radius Server, eliminating the need for additional physical servers or cloud resources.

Take Asterfusion CX102S-16GT-(DPU)-M-SWP as an example. When connected to a splitter in the network, an ONU Stick module can directly replace a traditional ONU, making operations much more convenient. This switch comes pre-installed with AsterNOS, which includes Dynamic VLAN functionality, allowing flexible VLAN assignment per user or device and providing fine-grained network resource isolation.

On the hardware side, the CX102S-16GT-(DPU)-M-SWP is equipped with two Marvell Octeon CN9130 DPUs (4 cores each):

• DPU-1 can run OpenWrt to provide advanced routing capabilities, including NAT and Multi-WAN routing, replacing a standalone router.
• DPU-2 can serve as a local RADIUS server platform, working in conjunction with the switch’s Dynamic VLAN functionality to enable Portal or 802.1X authentication, eliminating the need for a physical Radius Server and reducing reliance on external hardware or cloud services.

At the management level, the CX102S integrates deeply with the OpenWiFi controller, enabling centralized management of SMB network devices across multiple locations. Network administrators can:

• Push configurations and synchronize policies: Quickly assign VLANs, Portal policies, and Radius authentication rules.
• Monitor and receive alerts remotely: Visualize the real-time status of connected users, OLT Stick modules, and switch operations.
• Perform unified upgrades and patch management: Keep all devices on the same software baseline, reducing maintenance risk.

By combining these capabilities, SMOs can not only reduce dependency on traditional OLTs/ONUs, physical Radius Servers, and additional routers, but also gain greater flexibility, automation, and operational efficiency.

Learn more about CX102S-16GT-(DPU)-M-SWP

Deploy an GPON Campus Network When Building a New Campus Network

When designing an overall solution, it’s important to cover different application scenarios.

At a high level, the OpenWiFi controller enables unified management of wired and wireless networks, gateway routers, and modules, simplifying operations while enhancing visibility and intelligence across the campus network.

In practical terms:

If your focus is on north-south traffic or extranet scenarios—that is, accessing the internet or external networks—the all-optical solution is recommended. In this case, the upstream link uses the Passive Optical Network (PON) protocol, improving transmission efficiency and accelerating external access. The network connection sequence in this scenario is: switch port → OLT Stick → ODN/splitter → GPON AP. Alternatively, you can use an ONU Stick module to replace traditional ONU devices for even simpler deployment.

If your focus is on east-west traffic or you are operating in an intranet scenario—that is, internal communications within an enterprise or between internal nodes—a PoE-based solution is more suitable. Why? Because the PoE ports provide dedicated bandwidth to each endpoint, without sharing network resources with other users, ensuring stable and reliable connections.

From the scenarios above, it is clear that Asterfusion’s GPON Campus Network Solution strikes a balance between cost optimization, simplified network architecture, and efficient deployment. It can flexibly adapt to different network requirements while enabling intelligent and highly visible management of campus networks.

Ⅳ. How the Asterfusion GPON Campus Network Solution Helps Reduce Your TCO

The following table outlines the cost advantages of the solution:

Take a Mini OLT as an example. In a traditional vendor setup, if you need one GPON port and one 10G SFP+ uplink port, you would typically require (as shown below):

• 1 GPON OLT SFP module
• 2 10G SFP+ modules (one for the OLT device and one for the upstream switch)
• Plus the OLT device itself

In total, the cost adds up to approximately $430.

In Asterfusion’s solution, a single GPON OLT Stick can connect directly to the splitter, bringing the total cost down to just $179, which represents a 58.37% savings compared to the traditional setup.

Of course, as the port density of OLT devices increases, the initial cost advantage of this solution may gradually decrease. However, when calculating the total cost of ownership (TCO), hidden costs—such as the power consumption and rack space of large OLT devices—must also be considered. With our solution, as the number of ports grows, the benefits in these hidden cost areas become even more significant, making the overall solution more economical.

Beyond device acquisition, Asterfusion provides a unified controller platform that can centrally manage both wired and wireless devices, including OLT Sticks. This integrated management further simplifies operations and contributes to lowering TCO across multiple dimensions.

Ⅴ. Top Advantages of GPON Campus Network Solution

Building on the above scenarios, Asterfusion’s GPON Campus Network Solution delivers both immediate tangible benefits and future-oriented intangible value through its innovative modular design and unified software platform:

Tangible Benefits

1. Significant Cost Reduction
   Initial hardware investment can be reduced by 58%–18% by replacing traditional devices with the OLT Stick modular design.
2. Extremely Simple and Agile Deployment
   Plug-and-play modular design requires no specialized configuration, enabling rapid service activation. Deployment time can be reduced from days to just a few hours.
3. Streamlined and Reliable Architecture
   Eliminates device stacking and multiple types of optical modules, reducing potential failure points and improving network stability and maintainability.
4. Unified and Efficient Operations
   With the OpenWiFi controller, wired and wireless networks, access devices, and gateway routers can be centrally managed. This simplifies operations and enhances visibility across the campus network.

Intangible Benefits

1. Green and Low-Carbon
   Highly integrated devices reduce the total number of units, directly lowering energy consumption and carbon emissions. This aligns with ESG principles and supports the creation of sustainable campus environments.
2. Flexible Scalability
   “Expand as needed, evolve smoothly”: when network demand grows, additional modules can be added without replacing entire devices, allowing dynamic adaptation to changing requirements.
3. Open and Decoupled
   Based on SONiC (AsterNOS) and standard PON technology, avoiding vendor lock-in and ensuring technical autonomy and investment protection.
4. Empowering SMOs
   Provides Small and Medium-sized Operators (SMOs) with technology and agility comparable to large operators, significantly lowering barriers to entry and enhancing market competitiveness.

Overall, Asterfusion’s GPON Campus Network Solution not only improves network transmission efficiency and bandwidth utilization, but also reduces operational complexity and total cost of ownership (TCO). For campus networks that demand high performance, low cost, and scalability, the Asterfusion GPON Campus Network Solution provides an efficient and reliable path, fully realizing the advantages of optical networking in practical deployment.

Ⅵ. Conclusion

Asterfusion’s GPON Campus Network Solution transforms the advantages of optical networking into tangible results for campuses. By combining modular hardware, intelligent DPUs, and centralized management, it simplifies operations, ensures stable performance, and scales effortlessly with growing network demands. Whether you are upgrading an existing network or building a new campus infrastructure, this solution enables high-speed, reliable, and future-ready connectivity. Explore how Asterfusion can help your campus achieve smarter, more efficient networking—contact us to start your deployment journey.