Whitebox hardware
Whitebox switches with ports from 1G to 100G, from several vendors.
PON / PON & pOLTA framework
Optical access · pOLTA
A PON that grows
with your customers
The complete OLT MAC sits in a pluggable module, GPON or XGS-PON, from Tibit and Sercomm. pOLTA combines the populated ports of a switch into an OLT that appears to the management system as a chassis with line cards and ports, based on BBF TR-383 and TR-385. You activate capacity port by port as subscribers are added. You buy ports when connections are activated, rather than buying a chassis in advance.
Members & partners
BREKOThe Linux Foundation
Core architecture
Build your open network architecture
A whitebox switch switches Ethernet at line rate, just like a chassis, but costs a fraction of the price. BISDN Linux adds computing capacity in the same enclosure, x86 or ARM. This turns commodity hardware into an access node that also runs network functions at the network edge.
PON Components
A modular access network with open interfaces. You choose the whitebox switch, pluggable PON modules and management software independently.
- OLTs: pluggable PON modules from Tibit and Sercomm on whitebox switches
- Management: controllers and orchestration via NETCONF/YANG
- Interfaces: BBF TR-383 and TR-385
- ONUs: devices from multiple vendors, tested in the BISDN Lab
- pOLTA: the software layer that combines the switch, modules and controllers into an OLT
PON Operations
From planning to ongoing operation, with our support wherever you need it.
- Network planning: split ratio, fibre budget and sites designed together
- Deployment: on-site commissioning, connecting modules and fibre. Centralised provisioning.
- Day-to-day operations: telemetry for PON and BNG in one system, faster fault diagnosis
- GPON to XGS-PON migration: port by port at the same node, to symmetric 10G
- Regulatory requirements: SBOM and reporting process, designed for the Cyber Resilience Act from 2027
PON Compatibility
Your ONUs, your optics and your management system, tested against the stack before anything goes into your network.
- ONU/OLT: transceivers and terminals from several vendors, tested in the BISDN Lab
- Testing in the BISDN Lab: your hardware against our stack, before deployment
Switching and computing in one enclosure
Open switch hardware with its own computing capacity
The switches come from several vendors. Most run BISDN Linux; pOLTA connects the others to their operating systems through a dedicated switch controller. This is also the faster way to integrate switches already in your network. Alongside the switch ASIC, the enclosure contains an x86 or ARM processor that runs the PON software and additional network functions. The configurator shows which platform suits your site.
On BISDN Linux
A standard Linux system in which every switch port is a net-device. pOLTA accesses switches running their own operating systems through their configuration interfaces.
Computing on board
A processor in the switch for PON software, telemetry and additional network functions.
Grows with you
Ports are added when connections are activated, without buying a chassis in advance.
Turn every switch port into a fully functional PON OLT
OLT pluggables: MicroPlug optics, macro impact
The entire OLT MAC sits in a pluggable module. This turns each Ethernet port of a switch into a PON port, GPON or XGS-PON, using modules from Tibit and Sercomm. You populate it port by port as connections are added, without paying for ports that remain empty.
Pluggable
An SFP+ module with a built-in OLT MAC, in the port of a commodity switch.
Density
Up to 48 OLT ports in a 1U switch, for up to 6,000 connections.
Standards
GPON, symmetric XGS-PON and 10G-EPON.
Vendor agnostic
Works with ONUs and distribution networks from multiple vendors.
One management system for all sites
Centrally managed PON
You manage many small OLT sites from one system. It uses NETCONF/YANG based on TR-383 and TR-385 and runs wherever you want it, in your own data centre or hosted by BISDN. After commissioning, each switch registers itself and retrieves its configuration.
Based on BBF TR-383 and TR-385
NETCONF/YANG as the interface, so your management system does not depend on us.
Centralised provisioning
After commissioning, the switch registers through a WireGuard tunnel and retrieves its configuration.
Telemetry
Export to Prometheus and Grafana, for PON and BNG in one system.
Wholesale, in development
Bitstream access that wholesale customers activate themselves. In development.
Switch, modules and management, combined into an OLT
Your PON stack in three building blocks
Switches, SFP+ modules and management software only become an access network through pOLTA, the pluggable OLT Abstraction. pOLTA combines the populated ports into a multi-port OLT managed via NETCONF/YANG. The management system does not see which switch or module sits underneath, so you can replace either.
Answer three questions about your network, its structure, size and control, and receive a recommendation for size class, deployment variant and host platform. You can then customise each layer in the full configurator.
Three questions about your network
01How is your network laid out?
02How many subscribers?
03Who controls the network?
You receive a recommendation for size class, deployment variant and host platform, and can then customise it at every layer.
See recommendation
Why BISDN
Four commitments behind every deployment
Open interfaces
Based on Broadband Forum standards
Disaggregation only works when software and hardware speak the same language. For PON, that is NETCONF/YANG based on TR-383 and TR-385; for the BNG, it is the TR-459 architecture. Through these interfaces, the software fits into networks with equipment from multiple vendors.
Your schedule, rather than the vendor’s
Code sovereignty
A closed system ties your network to its vendor’s upgrade cycles. With BISDN, you decide when to patch and when to schedule a maintenance window. The code sovereignty page explains what is open and what is not.
From Berlin
European-built solutions
Critical infrastructure requires knowing where the software comes from. BISDN develops and maintains it in Berlin, with direct access to the developers and support in German and English.
Partners
System integration
As a certified Tibit integration partner and Ciena OEM partner, BISDN tests its software on the hardware deployed in the network.
Next step
Tell us your optical requirements
You will get an answer from someone who knows the software, and a conversation focused on your network.