Enabling software-defined control in passive optical networks

A method comprising:

• in a software-defined passive optical network comprising a set of optical network terminals, a set of passive optical network ports, and a plurality of splitters, each of said optical network terminals being connected to a single one of said passive optical network ports through a given one of said splitters, wherein said software-defined passive optical network is divided into a plurality of areas, each of said areas being assigned a given fraction of said passive optical network ports, monitoring passive optical network port utilization for each of said plurality of areas;
• for those of said areas determined in said monitoring step to have passive optical network port overutilization, increasing a number of said passive optical network ports assigned thereto;
• for those of said areas determined in said monitoring step to have passive optical network port underutilization, reducing a number of said passive optical network ports assigned thereto;
• for those of said areas determined in said monitoring step to have passive optical network port overutilization, increasing a number of paths thereto;
• and
• for those of said areas determined in said monitoring step to have passive optical network port underutilization, reducing a number of paths thereto, wherein each of said optical network terminals has a plurality of Ethernet ports connectable to a plurality of edge devices, further comprising:
• for those of said areas determined in said monitoring step to have passive optical network port overutilization, activating additional corresponding ones of said Ethernet ports;
• and
• for those of said areas determined in said monitoring step to have passive optical network port underutilization, reducing a number of active corresponding ones of said Ethernet ports.