2019.03.08 – Open Broadband News

Cracking the code to fast, efficient cloud-based broadband with OB-BAA

The speed and ease at which service providers can deploy new, standardized and automated cloud-based access infrastructures has improved significantly as Broadband Forum completed and published the second code release of its Open Broadband – Broadband Access Abstraction (OB-BAA) project.

Release 2.0 of OB-BAA builds on the functionalities enabled by Releases 1.0 and 1.1, which were demonstrated to wide-acclaim at Broadband World Forum last October. This Open Broadband reference implementation expands the breadth of vendors and network configurations capable of leveraging its ability to facilitate co-existence, seamless migration and adaptation to an increasingly wide variety of software defined access technologies and implementations.

“OB-BAA is a key solution for an operator’s traditional access network to evolve towards and SND/NFV-based network in the future,” said Jialiang Jin, of China Telecom, member of the OB-BAA project team. “With its help, operators can build a more intelligent access network. Release 2.0 brings more detailed functionality for essential network operations and covers more types of access nodes, both of which greatly enhance the OB-BAA software. We look forward to future releases of OB-BAA where more and more functionality can be added to enable open and flexible solutions needed by the SDN/NFV-based network.”

Gfast – bad for your diet, but good for your broadband

While Gfast updates won’t actually help your dietary needs, they do push the service offerings into alignment with those of a fiber-only connection, writes Lincoln Lavoie, Senior Engineer, Broadband Technologies, at University of New Hampshire InterOperability Lab (UNH-IOL), in Broadband World News.

From a service provider view, this simplifies operational processes, since providers need only maintain a single set of service profiles for their customers to purchase. Put another way, it wouldn’t matter if a customer has a fiber only connection or a fiber connection extended by a Gfast connection: The user experience is the same.

That’s because the latest profile update to Gfast extends the bandwidth the technology uses from 106 MHz to 212 MHz. For those keeping track, this is double the spectrum usage which, given the modulation Gfast uses, doubles the number of subcarriers (or tones) used to transport data from 2,048 to 4,096. This pushes data rates available to the user above the 1Gbit/s mark; in some cases, it even comes closer to 1.5 Gbit/s.

BT boosts H2O’s IQ 

BT has secured a contract with Northumbrian Water, the providers of reliable and sustainable water, to help deliver a Smart Water project across its North East operating area in the United Kingdom.

The operator will provide the low power network and data which will enable operational insights, allowing the water company to better understand how its water network performs using the IoT. The Smart Water project aims to provide Northumbrian Water with a wide range of insights to allow the company to address issues such as water leakage and enhance levels of water quality for its customers.

Around 150 sensors will be installed across the network to capture data on a range of factors, including water flow, pressure and quality. The data collected by the sensors will be connected to the BT’s LoRaWAN (Low Power, Long Range, Wide Area Network), which is designed to support long-life, battery powered IoT devices over a long distance.

The platform will help to provide Northumbrian Water with the data insights it needs to understand how the water network is functioning, so that it can take proactive steps to reduce water leakage, speed up operational processes and lower its total running and maintenance costs.

Broadband boom! 1.2 billion global fixed broadband subscribers expected by 2025

The markets and technologies which will drive continued rapid broadband growth over the next decade have been revealed by Broadband Forum and Point Topic in a new report which predicts there will be 1.2 billion fixed broadband subscribers by 2025.

Following the announcement last October that there are now one billion global fixed broadband subscribers, this report is Point Topic’s first worldwide broadband subscribers forecast providing the details behind that milestone, addressing the period between Q3 2018 and Q4 2025.

“With 5G on the horizon and new Internet of Things devices and Over the Top services increasingly becoming a part of subscribers’ everyday lives, this new analysis looks at how the fixed broadband market and the technologies within it are evolving to meet this demand,” said Oliver Johnson, CEO at Point Topic. “As we look towards the next billion broadband subscriptions, fixed lines will continue to play a significant role. We expect to see more convergence between fixed and mobile lines as consumers look for a seamless, high-quality connectivity experience that is available anywhere, anytime.”

5G steals the spotlight at Mobile World Congress

Mobile World Congress Barcelona was all about 5G – 5G devices to deliver enhanced mobile broadband experiences to consumers; 5G as the great enabler of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI); 5G as the catalyst for widespread digital transformation across enterprise and industrial verticals.

Among the developments – which RCR Wireless has rounded up to paint a clearer picture of exactly where the industry is in the long-term trajectory of the next-generation of cellular – were:

• Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 SoC and X50 modem, which powers the first wave of 5G-compatible smartphones unveiled around MWC.
• Executives from Dell Technologies discussing the key role of IT in building out 5G, which will require cloud computing capabilities distributed throughout the network.
• Discussion around in-building 5G

O-RAN Alliance okays PON for 5G

The increasingly influential O-RAN Alliance has given the Passive Optical Network (PON) access network sector a 5G boost by deciding to adopt PON technology as an option in fronthaul networks, according to an AT&T executive.

Speaking at the 5G symposium session, Kent McCammon, a lead member of Technical Staff at AT&T, said the O-RAN Alliance, which boasts many of the world’s major Tier 1 operators as its members, voted unanimously at a meeting in Madrid on February 21 to adopt PON as an option for mobile fronthaul, the connection in a disaggregated radio access network (RAN) between centralized baseband controllers and remote standalone radio heads at cell sites.

The move should encourage the development of low-latency PON technologies by the vendor community conforming to “Cooperative Transport Interface” specifications being developed by the O-RAN members that will make PON options suitable for the operators’ needs.

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