2020.09.25 – Open Broadband News

Setting standards for the Connected Home

Today we are at a midpoint between the conception of the Connected Home and a time when smart devices have become considered essential to everyday life, in the same way a smartphone has. The journey toward smart home device ubiquity will be taking leaps forward in innovation, taken from solid platforms of standardization, well defined APIs, interfaces, and integrations between different platforms.

Standards have also driven forward great technological advances in history. Broadband Forum was set up to establish new standards around DSL products and the first published specification, TR-001 was released nearly a quarter of a century ago. As technology advanced, new standards were created and older ones updated and refined to remain relevant. The landmark TR-069 standard, for example, was first published in 2004 to provide service providers with a protocol to remotely support Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) and was amended five times. Today, this standard has evolved into the User Services Platform (USP) (TR-369) as the industry tries to manage the proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT) services and connected devices going online.

Read the full blog from Lincoln Lavoie, Technical Chair, Broadband Forum on ‘What role does open source have to play in the Connected Home alongside standards?’ here.

The broadband industry interlinks with broadband innovation

Interlink has joined Broadband Forum, the communications industry’s leading open standards development organization focused on accelerating broadband innovation, standards and ecosystem development, to better serve Internet Service Providers (ISPs) with advanced features in its network management system, Strings.

As Interlink completes work on its carrier-grade statistics and monitoring solution for Hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) networks, access technologies such as Passive Optical Networks (PON) are crucial in its objective of offering the same solution for Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) deployments. Although Broadband Forum is agnostic to transport technologies used in access networks, it plays a major role in encouraging the work that accelerates large scale deployment of access technologies.

“As USP takes the baton from TR-069 and defines the user experience and management paradigm for the next one billion broadband installations, it is crucial that industry players come together to help us deliver on the promise of broadband,” said Robin Mersh, Chief Executive Officer of Broadband Forum. “Interlink is a welcome addition to our membership that is shaping the future of broadband, and we look forward to its contributions and innovation as we address head-on the Quality of Service (QoS) challenge and user privacy threats that stand in the way of achieving the promise of a world-class Gigabit experience.”

Let’s get giggy with it! Virgin Media looks to double broadband speeds

Virgin Media, which promised a gigabit-speed connection across its entire network by the end of next year, has already switched on a gigabit-speed service for about 3.7 million UK homes. But now technicians at the British cable operator see a way to double those speeds in what they are calling “Gig 2.”

Trials carried out in the town of Thatcham in the South of England, delivered a service of 2.2 Gbit/s to homes over the DOCSIS 3.1 technology that Virgin Media is using. That is about 34 times the country’s average connection speed.

Speeds were effectively doubled by fattening the signal. In technical parlance, that meant activating a second Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) block on DOCSIS 3.1, says Neil Geary, Virgin’s Director of Network Evolution.

EU-phoria! European Commission give fiber and 5G the green light

Telcos across the European Union (EU) are celebrating after the European Commission officially gave 5G and fiber the green light.

“Broadband and 5G connectivity lay the foundation for the green and digital transformation of the economy, regardless if we talk about transport and energy, healthcare and education, or manufacturing and agriculture,” said Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President. “And we have seen the current crisis highlight the importance of access to very high-speed internet for businesses, public services and citizens, but also to accelerate the pace towards 5G. We must therefore work together towards fast network rollout without any further delays.”

Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the Internal Market, has also become a believer. “Digital infrastructures have proven to be crucial during the pandemic to help citizens, public services and businesses get through the crisis and yet recent investments have slowed down,” said Breton. “At a time when access to broadband Internet represents both a fundamental commodity for Europeans and a geostrategic stake for companies, we must – together with Member States – enable and accelerate the rollout of secure fibre and 5G networks. Greater connectivity will not only contribute to creating jobs, boosting sustainable growth and modernising the European economy, it will help Europe building its resilience and achieve its technological autonomy.”

South America to receive out of this world connectivity

Brussels-based satellite service provider SatADSL has reached a strategic partnership with South American teleport operator Andesat to launch a full range of flexible satellite services across Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay and parts of southern Bolivia.

Connecting to the Eutelsat 117W satellite, SatADSL will combine capacity from Andesat with its cloud-based service delivery platform (C-SDP) to bring corporate business connectivity to customers.

SatADSL said the alliance also represents a significant landmark in its efforts to eradicate digital divides around the world and reinforces both companies’ commitments to stimulating social and economic growth via the provision of cost-effective internet access.

Andesat owns three teleports located in Buenos Aires, Lima and Santiago de Chile, and provides services on six satellites covering the entire Andean region. SatADSL, meanwhile, has installed more than 4,000 VSAT networks in over 50 countries, enabling operators to deliver satellite-based connectivity without investing in additional physical infrastructure.

Automation station! Telefónica Deutschland is preparing its network in line with rising data traffic

German service provider, Telefónica Deutschland is preparing its network to adapt to escalating data traffic and bandwidth demands.

The firm will do so, as part of its iFusion programme, using open, software-defined network (SDN) orchestration and a partially disaggregated multi-vendor optical network architecture to transform network operations and improve the delivery of new services.

Blue Planet’s (a division of Ciena) multi-domain service orchestration (MDSO) software has been selected as a first step for Telefónica Deutschland to create, deploy and automate end-to-end service delivery across its new multi-vendor transport network.

Broadband Forum needs you!

Do you want to help shape the future of broadband? If so, why not become a Broadband Forum Work Area Director?

Broadband Forum is seeking the appointment of leaders for the following Work Areas:

• Access and Transport Architecture
• Broadband User Services
• Fiber Access Networks

The terms will last for two years, beginning from January 2021. To submit a candidacy statement, follow the instructions provided on Broadband Forum Members’ Wiki. The closing date for submissions is 28th September 2020 at 5pm Pacific Time.

For more information about what a Work Area Director’s role will entail, please visit: https://wiki.broadband-forum.org/display/BBF/Work+Area+Directors.

Interested in joining Broadband Forum?

Watch the latest video of Rhonda Heier, Director of Membership Development, discussing the value of a Broadband Forum Membership.

If you’re interested in learning more about joining Broadband Forum, please contact Rhonda directly at rheier@broadband-forum.org.

If you join Broadband Forum, you will be able to access our previous webinar recordings. For all of our current members, you can view them here.

A Series of Fortunate Events – by Broadband Forum

Roll-up roll-out! Get your latest Market Updates

Broadband Forum has released its latest Market Update which illustrates how the move towards the User Service Platform [1] and convergence on a common device data model (TR-181) [2] can also be used as an opportunity to further harmonize the device management approach across multiple access technologies, specifically FTTH and DOCSIS.

If you wish to view this Market Update you can find it here with all other releases.

Virtual Broadband World Forum 2020 – discounted participation for BBF members

Broadband Forum will join the Virtual Broadband World Forum (BBWF) event on 13-15 October 2020. BBWF is offering Broadband Forum members the opportunity to participate in this major industry event at a reduced rate.

As a key, long-standing partner to Broadband World Forum, Broadband Form will remain a major contributor to the conference content.

Broadband Forum members interested in being part of the Interop Pavilion will enjoy the following perks:

• A discounted rate for a Broadband Forum pod at a fraction of what it would cost to display on the show floor independently at £2,900
• 2 x full access delegate passes for the conference
• 10% off from any full price exhibitor package

To find out more about features, capabilities and functionality of a virtual stand.  BBWF invites you to view a demo here: https://tmt.knect365.com/bbwf/client-demo-your-guide-to-the-virtual-platform/\.

For additional enquiries or to book a Broadband Forum pod, please contact Tamas Szuts on tamas.szuts@informa.com or +44 (0) 207 017 4260.

Virtually back to BASe-ics

Broadband Forum has confirmed the dates of its next vBASe sessions. It will host its first ever virtual demo at Broadband World Forum, from October 13-15, showcasing the latest developments of its OB-BAA initiative. A panelist session on the Connected Home, along with a live Q&A, will also be held.

vBASe North America will then take place on October 26, with a theme of “2020 Lessons, 2021 Reality”, while vBASe Australia will see Broadband Forum team up with nbn to provide three weekly 90 minute sessions to deliver a market update.

The vBASe series continues for the first-ever virtual UFBB 2020 during the weeks commencing November 16 and 23. vBASe UFBB will cover the theme of ‘The Technology Leaders’ and will see three virtual sessions on Market Update, Access technology and Connected Home technology.

Participate in Broadband Forum’s OB-UDPST project

Broadband Forum’s Open Broadband User Datagram Protocol Speed Test (OB-UDPST) project is an open-source project and anyone is welcome to follow the work by logging into the BBF tools and navigating to the OB-UDPST Wiki space. If your company is not a Member of Broadband Forum, but you would like more information, please contact Rhonda Heier, Director of Membership Development at rheier@broadband-forum.org.

To actively participate and contribute to the discussions and the work, please click here to learn more, then download and submit the Participation Agreement. Learn more about all Broadband Forum’s open source projects here: Open Broadband.

Read – or watch – all about it!

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.

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