2019.02.15 – Open Broadband News

Dynamic new API standard paves way for 5G era

Broadband Forum has released new standards for the modularization of the Dynamic Bandwidth Assignment (DBA) function, representing a significant advance in the Quality of Service (QoS) of optical access systems and a milestone for 5G by accelerating the time-to-market for time-critical applications.

The landmark specifications define an Application Programming Interface (API) that enables the DBA software module to be replaced. As a result, optical access systems can quickly and cost-effectively provide a wide range of services, including support for 5G fronthaul interfaces and services for business users.

NTT and Chunghwa Telecom have jointly proposed use cases of the DBA software module and developed the API specifications as international standards within the Broadband Forum.

Amazon takes eero under its wing and into its (smart) home 

Amazon has added another weapon to its smart home arsenal with the announcement that it has a deal to acquire eero, a startup that has developed a mesh-based whole-home Wi-Fi platform.

eero’s product lineup includes a central hub that, the company claims, can bathe an area of up to 1,500 square feet in Wi-Fi, a smaller Beacon Wi-Fi extender and software that uses in-home data and a cloud-based platform designed to help optimize the customer’s Wi-Fi network.

Acquiring eero will broaden Amazon’s smart home product and technology portfolio which also includes ‘Ring’, the smart doorbell maker that Amazon acquired in early 2018.

“We have a shared vision that the smart home experience can get even easier, and we’re committed to continue innovating on behalf of customers,” said Dave Limp, SVP of Amazon Devices and Services.

Fixed or wireless network? Who cares! Broadband Forum and 3GPP collaboration create 5G milestone 

A milestone moment in developing a converged 5G core network, addressing both fixed and mobile networks, has been reached after Broadband Forum delivered detailed recommendations to 3GPP.

The proposals made by Broadband Forum were created at the request of carriers that participate in both Broadband Forum and 3GPP and were developed after a comprehensive cycle of iterative feedback between the two organizations. The suggestions address the common interfaces for access networks and 5G core networks to support the convergence of wireline and wireless networks.

David Aders, (Acting) Executive Converged Control Plane Engineering at Telstra Corporation, one of the operators which contributed significantly to the recommendations, said: “The alignment and collaboration between Broadband Forum and 3GPP are essential to delivering an ecosystem that is truly game changing and providing a globally supported framework for operators such as ourselves to develop many next generation services.”

Click here to watch a video interview with David Allan, Work Area Director for Wireless-Wireline Convergence, about Broadband Forum’s activities in accelerating 5G networks.

Gee-Whiz! Great Britain continues Gfast growth 

Gfast is continuing to roll-out and now reaches 1,466,738 premises across the United Kingdom.

The eleven new exchange areas added include Bracknell, Gravesend, Histon, Ipswich Whitton, Minster Shepey, Penn, Reading Centre, Reading South, Risca, Walton on Thames and Wolverton.

This update follows Broadband Forum’s announcement that there are now 42 certified-interoperable Gfast solutions for the 106MHz profile as operators look to deploy this cost-effective technology. To view the Broadband Forum’s Market Update on Gfast, click here.

Broadband Forum’s work around Gfast will continue at its Gfast Chipset & System Integrator Interoperability Plugfest, hosted by the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL). The Plugfest will run from March 11-15, 2019 and there is still time to sign up.

Bish-Bash-Bosch – Worcester Bosch launches 5G factory trial 

Feds look to banish rural broadband blues 

Nokia goes “agro” on connectivity – launches agriculture IoT packages

Nokia has launched off-the-shelf IoT packages designed to help operators expand in vertical IoT markets with new service offerings.

The four new packages have been built on the Nokia Worldwide IoT Network Grid (WING) platform and have been designed to help simplify the set-up and operation of enterprise IoT services while reducing time to market.

The four new solutions include Smart Agriculture-as-a-Service, which involves using sensors to capture environmental, soil and crop data and analyze the output to provide insights to help farmers manage crops more effectively. Additionally, Nokia has launched Logistics-as-a-Service, which involves the use of IoT sensors in the tracking of the global movement of goods, and Asset Management-as-a-Service to help enterprises better monitor the status and performance of their assets around the globe.

Roll-up, roll-up – Broadband Forum adds new dates to its 2019 events list

Broadband Forum has confirmed additional events it will host in 2019, with the Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFBB) Broadband Acceleration Seminar (BASe) – in Den Haag, The Netherlands, on June 25-27 – the latest one to be announced.

Bringing a balance of vision, real-world experience, and technical/operational insights, the former TNO Ultra-Fast Broadband seminar is now entering its 11^th year and the Broadband Forum has taken over the organization of this seminar and will be adding elements of its highly successful BASe series events to create the new “UFBB BASe”. This will both carry forward the traditional focus of UFBB while bringing some new world-class speakers and perspectives to the table. The topics covered will include –

• Next generation access technologies
•  Use cases and best practice for next generation access
• 5G and fixed access
• Connected Home and advanced Wi-Fi
• CloudCO, Software Defined Access, and the last mile
• Wireless-wireline convergence

To sign up or find out more information about that June BASe event, see https://www.ultrafastbroadband.nl/

Additionally, registration for the Q1 meeting is now open. This takes place on March 18-21, in Warsaw, Poland.

Before this, broadband service leaders Verizon, Google, SK Broadband, and AIT Greece will be among speakers at the next BASe on March 7, 2019 at OFC in San Diego. This seminar is focused on ‘NG-PON2 Roadmap and Evolution – A Universal Platform for Residential, Business and Wireless/5G?’. For the full detailed agenda of the seminar, please see the link.

To learn more about the Broadband Forum’s BASe events, click here for a video interview with BASePOINT OFC hosts Bernd Hesse and Broadband Forum CMO Geoff Burke.