Broadband Forum News
2019.03.15 – Open Broadband News
Eureka! New Broadband Forum Open Broadband lab launches, with VMware and EANTC
Broadband Forum has announced VMware and the European Advanced Networking Test Center (EANTC) as technology partners in the launch of the European Open Broadband Lab – a joint effort to accelerate network transformation and migration to a cloud-based broadband infrastructure.
Beginning in mid-2019, the lab will host test campaigns for vendor and Communications Service Provider (CSP) members of the Broadband Forum. All parties will be able to validate multi-vendor interoperability of their virtualized solutions and broadband access infrastructure aligning with Broadband Forum standards on full Network Function Virtualization (NFV) infrastructures.
“Establishing the European Open Broadband lab is an incredibly exciting development for Broadband Forum,” said Broadband Forum CEO Robin Mersh. “This partnership takes our Open Broadband initiative to the next level and will help operators migrate to next-generation networks and architectures, including 5G and CloudCO, that are capable of meeting rising consumer demand for more bandwidth, better and more agile broadband and the introduction of innovative new services.”
Speeds so fast it Hertz! Broadband Forum and UNH-IOL begin certifying 212MHz Gfast technology
The Broadband Forum and University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory’s (UNH-IOL) have revealed the first five Gfast devices running at 212MHz to have successfully completed their certification program.
Carried out by Broadband Forum’s approved Gfast test laboratory, the UNH-IOL, the certification demonstrates interoperability between 212 MHz Gfast products, indicating market readiness for multi-vendor deployment – a primary factor for mass market deployment.
“Delivering higher performance and gigabit speeds over a wider range of deployment scenarios, 212 MHz Gfast holds huge potential for operators,” said Geoff Burke, Chief Marketing Officer at Broadband Forum. “Demonstrating interoperability through Broadband Forum’s certification program gives operators confidence that the technology can be delivered at scale, reducing test time and accelerating mass deployment.”
Wave goodbye to Wi-Fi woes with new Iskratel mesh solution
Iskratel, the leading European provider of broadband access solutions, today launched its Innbox G78 GPON home gateway – which will improve Wi-Fi performance by up to 30% – and a new mesh Wi-Fi solution, enabling operators to provide seamless, whole-home coverage with gigabit connectivity.
Featuring multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) for an improved end-user experience, the Innbox GPON home gateway supports the integration of mesh Wi-Fi and management of remote access points (APs) to improve both Wi-Fi performance and coverage.
The new solution, which provides hardware support for Wi-Fi Alliance’s Easy Mesh, has been launched alongside Iskratel’s new mesh Wi-Fi solution. This further addresses inadequate home broadband and uses a cloud-based TR-069 centralized management system to provide operators such as one of Croatia’s leading fixed broadband provider Optima Telekom with remote control and configuration of customer premises equipment (CPE).
“As a long-time satisfied Iskratel customer, Optima Telekom has been witnessing how their products offer performances which meet our and customer’s requirements and expectations in the best possible way. Therefore, we welcome all their novelties, especially because we are also dedicated to innovative, customer centric products and services,” said Tomislav Grmek, Director of Telecommunication Systems Development and Operations Department and Deputy CTIO at Optima Telekom, which has used Iskratel’s solutions in its network for more than seven years.
5G – operators could drop pounds on full-fiber diet says FTTH Council Europe
With careful advance planning, operators could end up with 5G for “free” when building a future-proof fiber-to-the-home network, according to a study conducted by Comsof for FTTH Council Europe.
After analyzing a variety of scenarios, the study concluded that if a FTT-5G (fiber-to-a-5G antenna/base station) network is anticipated while planning for a FTTH network, the range of cost savings for the FTT-5G network due to convergence can reach between 65 percent and 96 percent. As a result, the extra investment on top of a FTTH network to make it 5G ready would be in a range of 0.4 percent to 7.2 percent, said the report.
Ronan Kelly, president of the FTTH Council Europe commented: “5G has become a buzz word and the idea of this study stems from a general observation: there will be no 5G without fiber. Small cell densification will be mandatory for 5G to fully deliver its potential. This process will rely on more fiber densification as it requires fiber to reach every cell site, hence a huge opportunity for convergence. This is the first time that a study puts numbers on the value of this convergence and it highlights a massive potential.”
Huawei dries operators towards 10G PON era
Huawei has officially released the QuickODN solution for the 10G PON era at this week’s FTTH Conference, in Amsterdam.
Featuring efficient planning, quick deployment, and digital Operation and Maintenance (O&M) capabilities, the solution helps operators build 10G PON infrastructure networks and pave the highway for transmitting multiple services, thereby realizing an upward business spiral for the fiber broadband industry.
According to the Huawei global industry vision (GIV) 2025, the total number of global connections will reach 100 billion by 2025, and the Internet will cover 77% of world’s population. Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) is the mainstream mode for future network construction. However, the FTTH development level varies with regions. Operators face three major challenges in implementing the FTTH strategy, namely low planning efficiency, long construction period, and high O&M cost. To address these challenges, Huawei released the QuickODN solution to help operators efficiently plan and quickly deploy FTTH and implement digital O&M for PON networks.
Viva la virtualization! Metaswitch announces revolutionary reference architecture
Cloud native communications software leader Metaswitch has launched a revolutionary reference architecture that stands to dramatically change the way communications services are provisioned within modern mobile network infrastructures.
Integrated with VMware vCloud NFV OpenStack Edition 3.0, Metaswitch’s complete IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) solution is designed for fully automated, sub-10-minute deployments within granular 5G core network slices. Providing the ability to overlay multiple, isolated, logical networks with totally disparate characteristics on a single, shared, physical network, network slicing is a critical feature of 5G mobile networks. Metaswitch delivers the only 100% cloud native IMS core Virtualized Network Functions (VNFs) built on a pure service-based microservices architecture and designed to support small to high-scale mobile multimedia communications services from private, public and hybrid cloud implementations.
“We’re delighted to see Metaswitch optimize its virtual network functions on VMware vCloud NFV OpenStack Edition,” said Shekar Ayyar, EVP/GM, Executive Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Development, and General Manager, Telco NFV Group Telco, at VMWare. “By bringing OpenStack together with a mature and feature rich compute, network, storage and operations platform foundation, companies like Metaswitch can build production-grade VNFs that deliver the highest performance, scalability and availability for CSPs.”
Broadband Forum kicks of Q1 meeting with two new tech talks
The Q1 Broadband Forum meeting (March 18-21, in Warsaw, Poland will accelerate out of the gates on Monday March 18 as two guests bring new perspectives to attendees. First, ARRIS will kick off a “State of Broadband 2019” keynote with a review of its insightful “Connectivity and Entertainment Index 2018” report. Later during the plenary, Deutsche Telekom will be introducing a cutting-edge NETCONF YANG demonstration that will paint a promising picture of the future of our industry. We hope that you’ll join us to hear these insights live starting at 10.00 on Monday!
For those needing a quick catch-up on happening from the Q4 meeting, Lincoln Lavoie, Senior Engineer at UNH-IOL and Technical Chair has provided a round-up of the technical projects progressed at the Q4 meeting here.
Following the Q1 meeting, there will be a number of exciting Broadband Forum events coming up this spring:
- A USP Plugfest will take place at UNH-IOL from Monday, April 1 to Friday, April 5.
- With a hugely successful OFC BASe now behind us, we now look forward to the Ultra-fast Broadband Accelerated Seminar (UFBB BASe) in Den Haag, The Netherlands, on June 25-27. Expect world-class speakers and insightful perspectives to be shared, as well as a variety of networking events. UFBB BASe 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 and the last mile
- Wirelss-wireline convergence
Registration is now open. To sign up or find our more information about that June BASe event, see https://www.ultrafastbroadband.nl/.
For Press and Analyst inquiries, contact Proactive PR at broadbandforum@proactive-pr.com
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