10G-PON (also known as XG-PON) is a 2010 computer networking standard for data links, capable of delivering shared Internet access rates up to 10 Gbit/s (gigabits per second) over existing dark fiber. This is the ITU-T's next generation standard following on from G-PON or Gigabit-capable PON. Optical fibre is shared by many subscribers in a network known as FTTx in a way that centralises most of the telecommunications equipment, often displacing copper phone lines that connect premises to the phone exchange. Passive optical network (PON) architecture has become a cost-effective way to meet performance demands in access networks, and sometimes also in large optical local networks for "Fibre-to-the-desk".