Service provisioning enabled management in SIEPON switching subsystem

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a switching subsystem in an optical network unit, an indication of a defined provisioning level, wherein the indication is received in a communication separate from monitored network traffic flow and the defined provisioning level represents an agreement for providing network services from an optical line terminal to one or more subscriber ports, wherein the subscriber ports are network interfaces within said switching subsystem;

controlling transitions by physical layer devices in one or more of said network interfaces within said switching subsystem between an active state and an energy saving state based on said received indication of said defined provisioning level; and

delivering, by said optical network unit, said network services to said subscriber ports.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said defined provisioning level comprises a bandwidth.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said defined provisioning level comprises a level of latency.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said defined provisioning level comprises a quality of service for a type of traffic.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising configuring a frequency of operation of said switching subsystem responsive to said received indication of said defined provisioning level.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling comprises configuring an energy efficiency control policy that is configured to control energy savings of physical layer devices in one or more of said network interfaces within said switching subsystem.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said controlling comprises configuring a wake-up time period for a low power state for physical layer devices in one or more of said plurality of network interfaces within said switching subsystem.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising configuring an amount of buffering used by said switching subsystem responsive to said received indication of said defined provisioning level.

9. A method, comprising:

determining, by an optical network unit, a configuration of a switching subsystem of said optical network unit responsive to information received from an optical line terminal, the received information indicating a provisioning level of network services to be delivered by said optical line terminal to subscriber ports of said switching subsystem, wherein determining the configuration comprises determining a percentage of an available switching capacity of the switching subsystem commensurate with the provisioning level of network services;

controlling transitions by physical layer devices in one or more of said subscriber ports within said switching subsystem between an active state and an energy saving state according to said determined configuration; and

delivering, by said optical network unit, said network services to said subscriber ports.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein said provisioning level represents a quality of service or a service level agreement.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein said provisioning level comprises a bandwidth.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein said provisioning level comprises a latency.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein said provisioning level comprises a quality of service for a type of traffic.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein said configuration comprises a frequency of operation of said switching subsystem.

15. The method of claim 9 , wherein said subscriber ports are network interfaces of said switching subsystem, and wherein controlling comprises configuring an energy efficiency control policy of said switching subsystem.

16. The method of claim 9 , wherein said configuration comprises configuring a wake-up time period for a low power state for a portion of said switching subsystem.

17. The method of claim 9 , wherein said configuration comprises configuring an amount of buffering used by said switching subsystem.

18. A network unit, comprising:

an access interface coupled to a line terminal via a point-to-multipoint cable distribution system;

a plurality of network interfaces, wherein ones of said network interfaces are configured for use as subscriber ports;

a switching subsystem configured to deliver traffic received on said access interface to said subscriber ports, said delivery of traffic performed in accordance with a configured operation of said switching subsystem, wherein said configured operation reduces energy usage in said switching subsystem; and

a controller designed to establish said configured operation of said switching subsystem responsive to an indication of a defined provisioning level for traffic to be delivered to said subscriber ports, the indication received in a communication separate from the traffic to be delivered.

19. The network unit of claim 18 , wherein said point-to-multipoint cable distribution system is an optical fiber cable network.

20. The network unit of claim 18 , wherein said point-to-multipoint cable distribution system is a coaxial cable network.

21. A method, comprising:

receiving, by an optical network unit, an indication of a defined provisioning level of network services to be delivered by an optical line terminal to subscriber ports of a switching subsystem of the optical network unit;

determining a percentage of a total capacity of the switching subsystem sufficient to provide network services according to said provisioning level;

configuring the switching subsystem according to the determined percentage; and

controlling transitions of physical layer devices in one or more of said subscriber ports within said switching subsystem between an active state and an energy saving state.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein configuring comprises configuring the switching system to perform at less than a full capacity.

23. The method of claim 21 , wherein the energy saving state is operation at a reduced frequency.

24. The method of claim 21 , wherein the energy saving state is an inactive state.

25. The method of claim 21 , wherein the energy saving state is operation with reduced buffering.