My company is in the early stages of designing a new space (about 100k sq ft) and our architects are pitching a PON instead of copper (most likely CAT 6a). I've never dealt with such a deployment and before I discuss with our IT services provider I want to make sure I understand enough to ask the right questions.
To give some context, my company is in a data intensive industry and we typically have other companies working within our space requiring isolation (done through VLANs) and, at times, significant modification to an area (moving or adding data drops). The reason PON is attractive and why I think it's being pitched is because of the reduced footprint both in space but also on power and cooling. Plus, it would allow to only run copper from the ONT to the outlet rather than all the way back to an IDF.
What should I be aware of before going forward? Right now my understanding is that using VLANs doesn't really change since we do that in the firewall not the switch. All of our IDF switches are unnecessary as we would be using splitters and I need to make sure the ONTs are physically secured. POE would have to be handled through injectors at the rack or at the ONT. There may be a higher upfront cost but will ultimately cost less over time.
Anything beyond that would be greatly appreciated.
