2020.01.31 – Open Broadband News
Let’s get ready to rumble! Broadband Forum takes on carrier-grade Wi-Fi challenge
Broadband Forum is developing carrier-grade Wi-Fi, while it sees ongoing projects in connected home, broadband abstraction and Wi-Fi management begin to bear fruit this year.
“Wi-Fi has always been very effective from a consumer point of view. We have developed the first generation of a test plan of what makes a Wi-Fi network carrier class. Now we’re working on the next release of that, a test plan,” said Robin Mersh, CEO of Broadband Forum. “It will build in mesh capabilities and try to get to a much more robust way of building, then deploying Wi-Fi networks. Wi-Fi technology problems get in the way of all those monetizing ideas [carriers] have. If you haven’t got a reliable Wi-Fi network, it can kill you.”
Carrier-grade Wi-Fi, formally addressed within the BBF’s Wi-Fi In-Premises project stream, is a newer conundrum the Forum is taking on, but several initiatives it’s tackled over the past year or two are coming to fruition this year.
“There are a few subjects we’ve been working on where there’s been a good deal of preparatory work, where you’re starting to see things be deployed, or there are things where you’re starting to see actual plans, where real technical work is going to happen,” continued Mersh.
Fiber and 5G is in the eir!
Irish telco eir has announced that its gigabit fiber network is now available in 28 Irish towns, currently reaching over 50,000 premises.
The expansion is due to continue at a blistering pace, with 20 additional locations scheduled to be added by April.
The rapid rollout represents the first fruits of a €500 million network investment program that ultimately aims to reach 1.4 million homes and businesses by 2024.
“Once completed, our fiber network will cover 84% of the premises in Ireland,” said eir CEO Carolan Lennon. “eir is by far the largest investor in telecoms in Ireland and the IFN [Ireland’s Fiber Network] is a key part of our €1 billion capital investment program to build the very best network for our customers.”
Wave goodbye to Wi-Fi woes with a new smart mesh solution
Wireless connectivity in rural areas poses numerous challenges for the service provider, not least the problematic amount of stone architecture used in older buildings common to these areas.
Gigaclear has partnered with Linksys to overcome these challenges through its Smart WiFi ‘mesh solution.’
The solution is described as throwing a ‘Wi-Fi bubble’ over an area, which can be easily extended by adding a series of linked repeater nodes to the network. These additional nodes are all integrated with a single wireless network, sharing the same SSID and password, with the Smart Wi-Fi allowing devices to connect to the nearest node for the best available connection.
This mesh solution takes the place of traditional boosters that simply relay the signal.
“We focus on building to rural areas, which means our customers often suffer from poor Wi-Fi performance due to the stone construction or size of their properties,” said Gigaclear’s Chief Marketing Officer James Lowther. “Our broadband service provides the best speeds in the UK, and we want our customers’ Wi-Fi performance to be able to take full advantage of it.”
Step one: Add one dose of 5G fiber to the Dish Network
Satellite service provider Dish Network has pressed ahead with construction preparations for a planned 5G network, using a Request For Proposals (RFP) from fiber backhaul providers to light its towers and data centers.
The move comes as the company aims to build a 5G network, covering 70 per cent of the US population by June 2023, to fulfil a commitment it made to the US Department of Justice as part of a deal to win approval for T-Mobile US and Sprint’s proposed merger.
Jeff McSchooler, the company’s Executive Vice President of Wireless Operations, said that Dish Network is “exploring varying transport infrastructures through RFP, adding its construction of an entirely new network offers the “opportunity to apply fresh ideas.”
In addition to seeking input from local, regional and national transport partners which have historically supported its video business, he said the company is looking to “learn from non-traditional partners as well, like utilities and municipalities that may be deploying fiber in their communities.”
Deutsche Telekom and Deutsche Glasfaser’s pilot project reaches new heights
As part of a pilot project in Lüdinghausen, Deutsche Telekom will use Deutsche Glasfaser’s optical fiber between the main fiber-optic distribution frame and the customer’s building.
The services are also available for Deutsche Glasfaser’s customers in Lüdinghausen who don’t yet have Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH), as the company will retrofit.
Deutsche Glasfaser has laid more than 9,000 fiber-optic lines in Lüdinghausen.
“The agreement is an important step in accelerating the FTTH fiber-optic expansion,” said Uwe Nickl, CEO of Deutsche Glasfaser. “Two of Germany’s most important fiber-optic providers are now collaborating for the benefit of end customers, who will now enjoy much broader offerings in the same infrastructure.
“We at Deutsche Glasfaser will enable nearly one million customer lines by the end of this year. Open networks are part of our standard because they enable competition and selection for end customers without having to lay redundant fiber-optic networks.”
A Series of Fortunate Events – by Broadband Forum
You’re the one that I want, TR-181, ooh ooh ooh, honey – Mark your calendar our Feb. 19 Wi-Fi Update Webinar!
It’s well known that managed Wi-Fi is the future of Wi-Fi, and end-users looking to utilize the latest smart home technology have created a real opportunity for communication service providers (CSPs) to provide value-added services that can both save support costs and provide new revenue streams.
A standardized way of modeling these services, and providing the necessary diagnostic tools and telemetry, is required to realize this opportunity. The Broadband Forum’s (BBF) TR-181 data model, known as “Device:2” has been used by the popular TR-069 management protocol for more than a decade as a standardized way to manage subscriber networks, perform diagnostics, and receive telemetry. The need for highly scalable, high frequency data collection and low-latency cloud-device control loops made BBF develop TR-069s successor, the User Services Platform (USP/TR-369). USP leverages the TR-181 data model which allows for coexistence with legacy devices as well as state-of-the-art Wi-Fi management.
On February 19 at 10am ET, join the project leaders in TR-069, USP, and TR-181, plus experts from CommScope, Domos Labs, Incognito Software, NISC, and QA Cafe as they hold a special panel discussion on Device:2.13, including:
- How to use the new Wi-Fi multi-AP model for telemetry to provide high-quality managed Wi-Fi
- How the Broadband Forum has standardized the IoT to create interoperable applications
- How to get valuable packet-level data from your CPE for faster issue resolution
- Testing and validating implementations of TR-181
- An open Q&A with our panelists
- A look at the future of TR-181, and more!
We’ll be distribution an invite shortly – so mark this time on your calendars. We’re excited to host this panel of experts and hope you can make it!
Sign up, sign up! The May Plugfest has arrived
If you are building a USP/TR-369 solution, there is no better way to accelerate development than by testing your implementation with other solutions created by your peers and other member companies.
To help bring member solutions first to market, the Broadband Forum is holding its next TR-369/USP Plugfest the week of May 11-15, 2020, at the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory in Durham, NH, USA.
In addition to interoperability testing, there will be an opportunity to experiment with testing against the Conformance Test Plan for USP Agents, TR-469, to help give feedback to the plan and drive the certification program into its next phases.
You can register for the event here: https://www.iol.unh.edu/event/2020/05/broadband-forum-usp-may-plugfest
Leading Lights Awards take center stage
The Leading Lights Awards recognize the industry’s top companies and their executives for their outstanding achievements in next-generation communications technology, applications, services, strategies, and innovation. Light Reading’s reputation for fiercely independent analysis of the people, products, and companies it covers makes this the most credible and authoritative awards program in the industry.
If you are a Broadband Forum member and your entry utilizes a Broadband Forum standard or initiative, please contact prteam@broadband-fourm.org to find out how we could support you create a winning entry.
The deadline for submissions is Friday, March 20, 2020.
Good Luck!
Ready for a PON Reality Check? Attend BASe OFC
Broadband Forum will host Broadband Acceleration Seminar (BASe) OFC at one of the optical industry’s major thought leadership events, OFC 2020 in San Diego on March 11.
World leading service providers like Verizon, ORANGE, Altice, and Google are already slotted to share their perspectives and insights, as well as a variety of top tier analysts and leading vendors/suppliers.
Focused on capturing the challenges, opportunities, and innovations emerging in 2020, topics covered will range from insights into the market and an array of existing and emerging PON architectures (EPON, GPON, XGS, NG-PON2, WDM PON, 25/50G PON, Super PON…) to perspectives on the state of standards (Broadband Forum, ITU, IEEE…). Ecosystem readiness for emerging use cases and applications, Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC) and 5G, and best practices across the full spectrum of potential implementations – from SDN/NFV and network slicing to fiber extension technologies and whole home networking will also be covered.
This year’s event will focus on the theme “PON Reality Check 2020” and you can find the full agenda here.
Mark the occasion in your calendar now and stay tuned for more info to come.
Craving more? What’s next on the Broadband Forum calendar
In 2019, Broadband Forum’s BASe initiative leaped forward with five major events reaching over 1,000 industry leaders, 16 sponsors, and high acclaim from all participants. In 2020, Broadband Forum will take these BASe events to a whole new level, with more events reaching larger audiences in conjunction with an expanded slate of conferences reaching all parts of the world. Our 2019 list of service provider and analyst speakers was phenomenal (see below) and we plan to continue to expand in 2020:
Has this caught your attention? Good, because we are looking for dynamic and forward-thinking vendors to take part in our 2020 BASe initiative and are actively recruiting sponsorships. Our 2019 sponsors represented a cross section of industry leaders (see below), and we are looking to expand this elite group in 2020!
Remember, priority for BASe speakers is given to sponsors so don’t miss out! For more information, click on the links provided for details on the 2020 Global sponsorship and UFBB BASe sponsorship packages, or reach out to info@broadband-forum.org.
Save your seat for the Annual Q1 meeting: Budapest and Broadband await
The hotel reservations and meeting registration is now open for the Q1 Annual meeting taking place in Budapest, Hungary from March 2 – 5, 2020.
For more information please see the wiki page or view our website.
For Press and Analyst inquiries, contact Proactive PR at broadbandforum@proactive-pr.com
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