Broadband Forum News
2020.05.01 – Open Broadband News
It just gets Meta and Meta for 5G convergence!
Cloud native communications leader Metaswitch has announced that its Access Gateway Function (AGF) solution has been successfully tested by Vodafone for the industry’s first implementation of the 5G Wireless Wireline Convergence (WWC) AGF standard. The AGF in Metaswitch’s 5G Fusion Core solution, which is aligned with Broadband Forum and 3GPP specifications, was tested in Vodafone Group labs in the U.K.
Gavin Young, Head of Fixed Access Centre of Excellence at Vodafone Group, said: “We have been very active in supporting the Wireless Wireline Convergence activity in the Broadband Forum and we are proud to be hosting the world’s first operator test of this technology. Working with Metaswitch, we have been able to prove that the technology works in practice, and we have been very impressed both by the performance of the AGF in Metaswitch’s 5G Fusion Core solution and its cloud native architecture. This trial more than justifies our faith in the value and the practicality of broadband convergence.”
The Metaswitch AGF is part of its 5G Fusion Core solution and is a true cloud native solution.
5G Wireless Wireline Convergence offers a path to a fully converged broadband access network that serves both wireline and mobile subscribers from a single technology stack.
Bank on broadband for Brit economy boost, says report
Delivering Gigabit connectivity to every corner of Britain could help rebuild the UK economy after the coronavirus lockdown, according to a new report by Assembly Research.
The report, commissioned by Huawei and featuring input from CityFibre, Mobile UK, Openreach, techUK, Three UK, and Virgin Media, claims that if the UK sticks to its pledge to make the country fully 5G and full-fiber connected by 2025, this could provide a £51.4bn GBP boost to the economy in the next five years, and £68.8bn GBP boost by 2030.
The report, titled ‘Delivering Gigabit Britain: Broadband for all’, outlines six recommendations to be considered by policymakers in order to reach the 2025 target, such as enabling the right regulatory environment, ensuring sufficient funding for all parts of the country, and committing to a technology-neutral approach to reach the hardest parts of the country in a timely and cost-effective way.
Fixin’ to close the digital divide
The Federal Communications Commission has released its annual Broadband Deployment Report, which reveals that the number of Americans lacking access to fixed terrestrial broadband service at 25/3 Mbps continued to decline, going down by more than 14 per cent in 2018.
The vast majority of Americans – more than 85 per cent – now have access to fixed terrestrial broadband service at 250/25 Mbps, a 47 per cent increase since 2017, with the number of rural Americans having access to 250/25 Mbps fixed terrestrial broadband service more than tripling between 2016 and 2018. And the number of Americans without access to 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile broadband with a median speed of 10/3 Mbps based on Ookla data declined approximately 54 per cent between 2017 and 2018.
5G edge adds new feather to its Hat
Kaloom today announced an expansion of its partnership with Red Hat to provide network operators with a more comprehensive approach to distributed edge computing. By integrating its Cloud Edge Fabric with Red Hat OpenShift, Kaloom aims to reduce the costs of edge infrastructure and further facilitate its use for 5G use cases.
The company argues that public cloud providers aren’t suited for low-latency applications, and is positioning itself as an alternative for 5G operators, emboldened by a new offering jointly developed with Red Hat. It supports a cloud-native function fabric architecture, services chaining that can improve networking efficiency in hybrid 4G and 5G networks, Kaloom’s 5G user plane function, Red Hat OpenShift and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Putting fiber smarts to good EUse is essential
Intelligent management of high density fiber connectivity will be a key factor in supporting the continued successful growth of FTTH/B across Europe, according to Go!Foton, a US-based photonics company with a 30-year track record in optical communications. Go!Foton said that innovative approaches to management of increasingly dense physical fiber infrastructure would be crucial as Europe moved forward.
“Rapid densification is a fact of life for FTTH/B operators,” said Go!Foton Michael Zammit, VP & GM of Connectivity Solutions. “The need for efficient deployment of new high connection count installations compatible with existing equipment has never been greater. From traditional service providers to cloud data centers, operators of densified optical networks require versatile connectivity solutions oriented for fast, simple, cost-effective field deployment.
Go!Foton’s message to the market came shortly after the FTTH Council released its 2020 Fibre Market Panorama. The report highlighted France, Italy, and Spain for biggest increases in number of homes passed, while confirming that FTTH/B coverage in Europe extends to nearly half of total homes.
♫ Commencing countdown, USP won’t be long ♫… Broadband Forum’s certification program almost ready for launch
Broadband Forum is now in the final stages of preparing to launch its USP Certification Program. The program will enable member companies to have their certified equipment listed in a Broadband Forum Certification project registry, similar to the Gfast list of Certified Interoperable Products and Companies. At the launch of the program, there will be a press release and additional marketing outreach about the program and the first certified devices.
This first USP Certification Program will focus on testing USP Agents according to the requirements of Broadband Forum TP-469 and its forthcoming corrigendum document.
If your company is interested in having your USP-capable product included in the announcement or if you have any questions, please contact us at info@broadband-forum.org prior to May 8. Your product will need to be prepared to start testing by May 15.
If you are a non-Member who is interested in the program, and would like to join a growing number of member companies involved with the Broadband Forum, please contact Rhonda Heier at info@broadband-forum.org.
Once launched, the USP Certification program will enable participants to perform self-testing utilizing the approved certification tool. Once the participant is satisfied with their test results, they will submit them to an approved testing lab for a final review and approval process.
A Series of Fortunate Events – by Broadband Forum
Once uPON a time in a home office near you... Join our latest BASe Webinar!
Don’t let social distancing isolate you from the emerging reality of PON in 2020!
‘The Worldwide PON Market’ BASe Series Webinar is set to be held on May 14, 2020 at 10am EST and 4pm CET.
Broadband Forum, Fiber Broadband Association, and Fiber to the Home Council Europe will be joining forces to keep you updated on the latest drivers influencing fiber today.
Join the webinar series pulled together by the coordination of all three organizations – “PON Reality Check 2020” – and get the information and insights you need to keep on top of cutting-edge perspectives in the industry. The webinar will be moderated by Bernd Hesse, Broadband Forum Marketing Chair and Senior Director, Standards Marketing and Thought Leadership at Calix.
This is the start of BASe webinar series that will consist of four 60-90-minute sessions. The sessions will be held every two weeks starting from May 14, 2020 and continuing through to June.
To register, please visit: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xv1dOqdgSE6QLlrTlLpovg.
The event must go on…Broadband Forum to host virtual Q2 meeting
The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is continuing to impact the way of life for all, bringing a set of unprecedented challenges. In light of the current global situation, Broadband Forum has decided to switch its Q2 meeting, scheduled for June 16-19 in Melbourne, Australia, to a series of virtual meetings.
In light of the current global situation, we have set the Q2 Quarterly meeting as series of virtual events running between June 15-25, 2020. This will provide an opportunity for our Members and Observers to safely participate from around the globe. A detailed agenda and additional information is available to members on the Wiki.
To attend the virtual Q2 meeting, please register here. If you have any specific questions or suggestions, please email help@broadband-forum.org.
If you are to considering membership in the Broadband Forum and would like to observe the meeting, please contact Rhonda Heier at rheier@broadband-forum.org.
Knowing me, knowing you…
From 5G and the smart home to next-generation access and network automation, Broadband Forum is working on a series of initiatives to enable the next era of connectivity. If you would like to track or get involved in these projects, you can learn more about Broadband Forum’s work in progress here or visit its YouTube channel for further insight.
For Press and Analyst inquiries, contact Proactive PR at broadbandforum@proactive-pr.com
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