• on managing the Access Node Control Protocol (ANCP)

• and alarm management

• , enabling additional functionality for network troubleshooting and data analysis.

• Outcomes: Amendment 2 of

• the

• YANG Modules for Fiber-to-the-distribution-point (FTTdp) Management was approved for straw ballot, updating existing models to align with the latest revisions of underlying ITU specifications.

Since the last meeting, Amendment 2 of the Common YANG Modules for Access Nodes (TR-383a2) was approved. This amendment is just one achievement within the Work Area and prepares the work for applicability beyond copper-based access by enhancing the YANG Modules for reuse in Optical Line Terminations (OLTs), providing ultrafast broadband over a Passive Optical Network (PON).

Secondly, the group approved the creation of an Amendment 3 which will further enhance the suite of YANG Modules, focusing on aspects such as alarm management, managing the Access Node Control Protocol (ANCP), and hardware management. These developments will meet service provider requirements, enabling additional functionality for network troubleshooting and data analysis.

In addition, Amendment 2 of the YANG Modules for FTTdp Management (WT-355a2) was approved to proceed to straw ballot. This Amendment adds Reverse Power Feeding support for Distribution Point Units (DPUs) and updates existing models to align with the latest revisions of underlying ITU specifications.

Last but not least, many of the Work Area participants also took part in an IETF ad-hoc meeting which discussed aspects related to IPFIX-based bulk data collection. This turned out to be a very interactive discussion, allowing the authors of the draft-boydseda-ipfix-psamp-bulk-data-yang-model to further enhance their work. It is expected this IETF activity may well be referenced by Common YANG in future work.

In summary, the Work Area made significant progress and maintains its leading role in the overall YANG standardization ecosystem.

For an overview of the Common YANG Work Area’s work, please visit: Common YANG Work Area.

Full steam ahead for OB-BAA, as it prepares for its second release

Image AddedFollowing the success of the first release of the Open Broadband – Broadband Access Abstraction (OB-BAA) project earlier this year, the group successfully demonstrated an updated version of the release for the first time to the world at this year’s Broadband World Forum, in Berlin.

The demo highlighted how OLTs and DPUs from multiple vendors can be managed and controlled using the same commands and messages based on the NETCONF protocol and the associated standard YANG data model, using OB-BAA.

Following this, the team is now hard at work on the second release which is scheduled for February 2019. This work aims to support additional functionalities for existing access network elements to be virtualized for management and control purposes in Cloud Central Office (CloudCO) implementations. In addition, the second release adds more examples to manage and control network elements using the standard YANG data models specified in the Broadband Forum’s TR-413 technical specification.

For more information on OB-BAA, please visit: https://www.broadband-forum.org/projects/ob-projects/ob-baa. 

FAN collaborates to drive next-gen fiber access networks

• Target: To move forward with the straw ballot of the ITU-T PON YANG data model (WT-385).
• Progress: Work on the NETCONF requirement for access nodes was carried out jointly with the SDN NFV Work Area group.
  • Outcomes: Final ballot of the PON abstraction use cases for time critical functions, such as Dynamic Bandwidth Assignment (DBA) and definition of the open interface for time critical API functions was completed during the meeting. Several test plans were also brought forward across XGS-PON and NG-PON2 for final ballot.

Since the Q3 meeting, the Fiber Access Networks (FAN) Work Area has been busy progressing a number of key documents that will bring a range of benefits to global service providers.

Following the passing of the Functional Model for PON Abstraction Interface document (TR-402) at the Q3 meeting, this work has proven to provide the capabilities to define the PON abstraction use cases for time critical functions, such as DBA on PON systems. This will in turn allow service providers to reduce costs and accelerate development of PON systems by disaggregation of time critical functions. 

Progress on the PON Abstraction Interface Specification (WT-403) was also made prior to the meeting, with final ballot confirmed in early December. WT-403 defines the open interface for time critical API functions.

In addition to this, several test plans were brought forward for final ballot as part of the work of the Interoperability Project Stream, which include:

• The NG-PON2 TC Layer Test Plan (WT-426), which defines the NG-PON2 Transmission Convergence Layer Test Plan.
• The XGS-PON TC Layer Test Plan (WT-309, Issue 2), which defines the XGS Transmission.  
• The XG(S)-PON and NGPON-2 PON PMD Layer Test Plan (WT-423).

Work also continued on the GPON/XG-PON1 test plan development (ID-247 Issue 4) project, including the ongoing development of test cases, as well as industry collaboration with the ITU-T Q2 group.

Collaboration with the ITU-T is also being carried out in other areas, as well as the FSAN, as part of the NGPON2 Wavelength Management project stream (WT-352 Issue 2).

A liaison letter to send to the IEEE group was also reviewed during the meeting, in regard to the Work Area’s EPON/IEEE PON YANG work.

For the latest updates from the FAN Work Area, please visit:

For an overview of the Common YANG Work Area’s work, please visit: https://wiki.broadband-forum.org/display/BBF/Common+YANG+Work+Area

FAN moves forward in delivering major benefits for service providers

• ·        Target: To define the requirements and data models for deploying network architectures in fiber access technologies so as to accelerate deployments and ensure interoperability.
• ·        Progress: Defined the PON abstraction use cases for time critical functions, such as Dynamic Bandwidth Assignment (DBA), and defined the open interface for time critical API functions. Several test plans were brought forward across XGS-PON and NG-PON2.

• Outcomes: The team also decided to move forward on EPON YANG development and NETCONF interop testing.

Since the Q2 meeting in Osaka, the Fiber Access Networks (FAN) Work Area has been busy progressing a number of key documents that will bring a range of benefits to service providers around the world.

Starting with the PON Abstraction Project Stream, the final ballot for the Functional Model for PON Abstraction Interface project (WT-402) closed prior to the meeting and has passed. This working text aims to define the PON abstraction use cases for time critical functions, such as Dynamic Bandwidth Assignment (DBA), on PON systems. The purpose of this is to reduce costs and accelerate development of PON systems by disaggregation of time critical functions. 

The straw ballot resolution for the PON Abstraction Interface Specification (WT-403) occurred in Montreal. WT-403 defined the open interface for time critical API functions. WT-403 will be sent for final ballot following the Forum’s Q3 meeting.

Several test plans were brought forward for straw ballot as part of the work of the Interoperability Project Stream. They included:

• ·      The NG-PON2 TC Layer Test Plan (WT-426), which defines the NG-PON2 Transmission Convergence Layer test plan. WT-426 is going through Straw Ballot at the moment.
• ·      The XGS-PON TC Layer Test Plan (WT-309, Issue 2), which defines the XGS Transmission 
• ·      The XG(S)-PON and NGPON-2 PON PMD Layer Test Plan (WT-423), which is going through Straw Ballot resolution period during the Q3 BBF meeting.

Also in straw ballot stage with the PON YANG Project Stream is WT-385. The group has also agreed to create WT-431 for EPON YANG development. EPON YANG will be based on appropriate YANG models already developed within the Forum and IEEE. The group is also updating and testing nctool for NETCONF interop testing. There are ongoing discussions on making SD-417 OLT Management Study into a working text for general purpose use.

The NGPON Wavelength Management project stream has agreed to update WT-352 Issue 2.  Collaboration on extending WT-352 Issue 2 to include missing use cases will be discussed during teleconferences.

For the latest updates from the FAN Work Area, please visit: https://wiki.broadband-forum.org/display/BBF/Call+Agendas+and+Minutes+-+FAN

Innovation Group hosts ONAP speakers

A Birds of a Feather (BOF) session was held concerning Cloud CO orchestration part 2, with invited speakers attending from Open Networking Automation Platform (ONAP). They were Timo Perala of Nokia – talking about the ONAP architecture and methodology – and David Perez of Swisscom – presenting a use case about using ONAP to abstract the access network.

The session was well-attended, with lots of questions and interaction. This BOF was followed the next day by a CloudCO and ONAP discussion on how to best make the right choices in order to move forward with the CloudCO framework in the Open Source space.

At the Q4 meeting, the Innovation group will have a BOF session on access equipment and Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) powering in ultrafast architectures. It will be held on the Monday evening of the Glasgow meeting and several service providers from across the world are expected to attend.

On the opening morning in Glasgow, there will also be an open SPAC and Innovation session, with invited speakers talking about innovative quality monitoring.

For more insight into the Innovation group’s work, please visit: https://wiki.broadband-forum.org/display/BBF/Innovation+Group

Forum maps out true end-to-end broadband experience for ISPs via Open Source Initiative in partnership with prpl Foundation

Following the launch of the OB-MAP OSS project, the Forum, together with the prpl Foundation, has made significant progress in creating an architecture, requirements and code for establishing a carrier grade Wi-Fi multi-access point home network. This work is critical at a time when consumers are demanding whole-home, high-bandwidth wireless coverage to enable the streaming and home automation services that they crave.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are keen to deliver the best possible service they can and want the ability to establish a leadership position for themselves by offering a truly end-to-end broadband experience. This project will enhance and expand the Wi-Fi Alliance’s EasyMesh™ specification and will give ISPs the ability to provide a “carrier grade” experience in a standardized way.

This key project is open to not only Broadband Forum and prpl Foundation members but to everyone in the industry. Interested companies need only to sign the participant agreement and they will be granted full and equal involvement in the development and the ultimate delivery of this project. Forum members who have not signed the agreement still have full “view only” access to the OB-MAP Wiki space.

Find out more about OB-MAP and its progress so far, at: https://wiki.broadband-forum.org/display/OBMAP/OBMAP+Home

Milestone for OB-BAA project as it prepares to showcase progress at BBWF

In Q3, OB-BAA continues to make a difference by issuing its first code release and documentation to enable standardized, automated and accelerated deployment of new cloud-based access infrastructure and services. This will facilitate co-existence, seamless migration and the increased agility to adapt to an increasingly wide variety of software defined access models - the key business and operational challenge in creating a potentially vast market for service providers worldwide.

Along with the release of the code, the project team is pulling out all the stops to educate service providers and equipment vendors regarding the benefits of using the release as an Open Broadband reference implementation by issuing a system overview that describes what OB-BAA is about and how it benefits the industry. Likewise, the project held a webinar on OB-BAA and will provide demonstrations that show the benefits of the BAA layer at the Broadband Forum’s pavilion during Broadband World Forum, which takes place in Berlin, Germany, from October 23-25.

To see the OB-BAA’s work so far, see: https://wiki.broadband-forum.org/display/OBBAA/Open+Broadband-Broadband+Access+Abstraction+Project+Home

Physical Layer Transmission continues Gfast progress  

The group resolved straw ballot comments on issue 2 of ID-337 (Gfast certification) arising from the ongoing BETA test program. Issue 2 addresses 212MHz operation, Gfast over coax (profiles 106c and 212c) and increases the performance requirements. Progress was made on Gfast Performance Testing (WT-380) in specifying the multi-port test bed. 

Work progressed on WT-338 Issue 1 Amendment 1 and Issue 2, Reverse Power Feed test plan with the goal to send Issue 1, Amendment 1 to straw ballot at the Q4 meeting in Glasgow. This allows for the testing of reverse power supply equipment for service providers.

BBF/Call+Agendas+and+Minutes+-+FAN.

Physical Layer Transmission sees light at the end of the tunnel for Gfast Issue 2 certification  

• Target: To carry out work which will help service providers deploy equipment that will give a better quality of experience for their end users.
• Progress: The Physical Layer Transmission group work continued on its Gfast Performance Testing document, Reverse Powering Feeding, Wi-Fi Performance Testing and many more projects.
• Outcome: Gfast Issue 2 certification has been sent to final ballot. Dates for Gfast Plugfests in 2019 have also been set. 

Having completed the resolution of straw ballot comments on Issue 2 of ID-337 (Gfast certification) arising from the ongoing BETA test program, the group agreed to send the document to final ballot. Issue 2 addresses 212MHz operation, Gfast over coax (profiles 106c and 212c) and increases performance requirements. Progress was made on Gfast Performance Testing (WT-380) in specifying test cases for multi-line testing with non-collocated Customer Premises Equipment (CPE).

Work progressed on WT-338 Issue 1 Amendment 1 and Issue 2 – the Reverse Power Feed test plan. This allows for testing of remote powering of access network equipment from the customer premises. The plan is to send Issue 1, Amendment 1 to straw ballot in February 2019.

A new project stream, FANCE (Fiber Access Networks - Copper Extensions), was established to work on WT-301 Issue 3, which includes FASTBACK - copper backhaul from a DPU using bonded Gfast. In addition, a new project, WT-419, was initiated to address extending fiber access over existing local copper infrastructure. This will include technology-agnostic use cases taken from SD-419 along with descriptions of technology specific ways to address these use cases based on G.hn, MoCA and Gfast.

In conjunction with BUS, the group completed the resolution of straw ballot comments on Wi-Fi Performance Testing (WT-398), which is now entering final ballot. Work progressed on the analysis and requirements for video support in-premises (SD-410), and performance testing of in-premises video support over Wi-Fi (WT-434). In conjunction with BUS, the group started to resolve straw ballot comments on Wi-Fi Performance Testing (WT-398) with plans to continue this work in conference calls between meetings. A New Project Initiation Form (NPIF) was agreed on to start work for Performance Testing of In-premises Video Support over Wi-Fi (WT-434). This will help service providers deploy equipment to give a better quality of experience for their end users.

Work continued jointly with the Architecture and Migration group on SD-419, which addresses use cases for extending fiber access over existing in-premises infrastructure. A conference call was agreed to move this further. Work was also started with the Architecture and Migration Work Area on WT-301 Issue 3 to add a third type of backhaul for DPUs. This type of backhaul will use existing copper lines with the bonding of Gfast or VDSL.

Work progressed on the Infrastructure for Testing Mitigation of Interference between Power Line Communications (PLC) and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), also known as WT-425. An architectural overview of the required setup was analyzed.

Gfast Plugfest dates for the first half of 2019 have been set, as follows:

progressed on the Infrastructure for Testing Mitigation of Interference between Power Line Communications (PLC) and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), also known as WT-425.

Work also continued on performance requirements for long reach VDSL2 and work on measurements that will set performance targets will now begin. VDSL2-Long Reach (VDSL2-LR) is the technology of choice for operators to migrate their aging ADSL network towards a single technology vectored VDSL2 network. Vectored VDSL2-LR provides ADSL2 plus like rates on long loops (10Mb/s at 4km), while providing VDSL2 performances on shorter loops. 

Dates for Gfast Plugfests at the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) in New Hampshire for the first half of 2019 have been set as follows:

• March 11-15, 2019
• ·        May May 13-17, 2019

These are in addition to the already agreed date of November 5-9, 2018 at the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) in New Hampshire.

To gain further insight into what the Physical Layer Transmission Work Area is doing, visit:   https://wiki.broadband-forum.org/display/BBF/Physical+Layer+Transmission.

EVPN - been there, done that. What's next?

5G Transport Architecture looks towards 2019

• Target: To form ·        Target: Produce industry-agreed specifications of the routing and transport network infrastructure for applications such as mobile backhaul/transport infrastructure, video distribution and data center interconnect, video distribution.
• ·        Progress: Wrapped up the phase 2 work on its Ethernet Virtual Private Network document, with particular focus on transport for 5G networks. Work continued on the market drivers and the transport architecture for 5G.
• Outcomes: The Ethernet Virtual Private Network (EVPN) which was carried out at Q3 has now been made publicly available on the Forum’s website as TR-350 Issue 2. This work will provide the Outcomes: Delivered essential architecture and equipment requirements for using the EVPN technology developed in IETF and IEEE for providing cloud services, video distribution and mobile backhaul.

Between the Q2 and Q3 Broadband Forum meetings, Routing and Transport (R&T) wrapped up the phase 2 work on its Ethernet Virtual Private Network document. This document provides the essential architecture and equipment requirements for using the EVPN technology developed in IETF and IEEE for providing cloud services, video distribution and mobile backhaul. EVPN provides scalability, resiliency and operational enhancements over previous technologies used to provide Ethernet services such as PBB, VPWS and VPLS. These enhancements help meet the higher performance and more versatile needs of today's networks and, in particular, transport for 5G networks, both fixed and mobile. 

Progress was made during the meeting on the market drivers and the transport architecture for 5G and work will carry on into 2019. The use of Segment Routing was introduced at this meeting, which builds on the use of deterministic transport and helps to integrate Software Defined Networking (SDN) into the transport architecture (SD.5GTransport).

The Routing and Transport Work Area also progressed its work on 5G Transport, introducing deterministic transport into the team’s efforts.  Deterministic transport, in the form of IEEE Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) and IETF Deterministic Networking (DetNet) are technologies that augment existing packet networking, providing deterministic latency, latency variation and loss for applications that demand these stringent constraints. The vision of self-driving cars and remote medical procedures cannot be realized without these augmentations and this work provides some of the first standardized usage of these technologies toward building a reliable, scalable and high-performance transport network to support 5G.

To find out more about the Routing and Transport Work Area’s work, see: https://wiki.broadband-forum.org/display/BBF/Routing+and+Transport

SDN/NFV moves forward with ONAP on CloudCO

• ·        Target: Create an application note to drive work that would bring ONAP and BBF closer.
• ·        Progress: Work on the group’s co-existence and migration document gained significant momentum – this document should now be on track for publishing during the first half of 2019, helping service providers with their network planning and migration strategies.
• ·        Outcomes: The Work Area has agreed to publish seven of the 14 application notes that have been authored and make them available on the public Wiki before Broadband World Forum next month.

Following the BoF session on Wednesday evening (see Innovation section), the CloudCO project held further discussion with the ONAP representatives and it was decided to create an application note to drive work that would bring the two organizations closer. This will involve the creation of a use case that will drive integration of the ONAP/Open Source Access Manager (OSAM) with CloudCO access including the OB-BAA layer. This work will help give service providers more choice by adding additional functionality into both projects.

Work on the group’s co-existence and migration document (WT-408) has gained significant momentum with several new contributions agreed for insertion. This document should now be on track for publishing during the first half of 2019. This should help service providers in their network planning and in migration strategies.

The Work Area has agreed to publish seven of the 14 application notes that have been authored. These should be available on the public Wiki before the Broadband World Forum next month. These form the basis of the use cases that drive the interfaces and test cases. The Open Broadband (OB) Labs have already started using these for test cases within a CloudCO environment. OB Labs Asia gave a report on its testing of two application notes against three different vendors’ equipment.

The group has two working texts – FANS Interfaces (WT-386) and SDN Management and Control Interfaces for Network Functions (WT-413) – that are currently in the straw ballot comment resolution phase and the group is hoping to target Final Ballot before the Q4 meeting in Glasgow.

The CloudCO white paper should be published soon after the end of this meeting which will give the reader a simpler view of what CloudCO is all about.

More information about the SDN/NFV Work Area can be found at: https://wiki.broadband-forum.org/display/BBF/SDN+and+NFV

Starfish addresses ordering cloud resources on legacy services

Current cloud and telecom ordering systems are un-aligned and disparate, leaving customers and providers without a way to migrate and/or interwork legacy and cloud together.

The OB-Starfish project has now addressed how to deliver cloud resources on legacy telecom services by creating a converged cloud resource model to evolve legacy ordering systems. The combined resource model leverages the cloud information model containment approach from Redfish (hosted resources) and TOSCA (orchestrated resources) to establish a standard resource containment that works regardless of implementation.

The Starfish pattern contains the same cloud patterns of “properties” which are used to order resources and “attributes” used to return the service details to the customer from the implemented cloud standards. These are now moving to be implemented in ordering systems to allow cloud resources to be ordered on broadband and other services.

For more information about Starfish, visit: https://wiki.broadband-forum.org/display/OBUMOF/Open+Broadband+Starfish+Project+Home

5G work continues for Wireline-Wireless Convergence Work Area 

• Target: Address the needs of converged operators, which have both wireline and mobile networks deployed and are in a position to leverage all their assets with combined subscriber offerings.
• Progress: Joint sessions were held across the Technical Committee examining other aspects of 5G where the Forum’s expertise could be applied, in particular network slicing and access convergence impact on transport networks and nodal Requirements for Hybrid Access.

• Outcomes: Complete solutions to Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) will be delivered in the release 16 timeframe as originally planned.

The Wireline-Wireless Convergence Work Area addresses the needs of converged operators, which have both wireline and mobile networks deployed and are in a position to leverage all their assets with combined subscriber offerings. 

Study work on 5G fixed access continued throughout the Q3 meeting. The study, being carried out jointly with 3GPP, is targeted to complete at the end of November, so the “push is on” to close the remaining gaps and make key technical choices. This will ensure complete solutions to Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) are delivered in the release 16 timeframe as originally planned. The work will transition to the generation of normative specifications at this point.

The Forum is taking an important role in 5G, making recommendations for the connection points between the fixed and 5G mobile core networks in order to drive core convergence. This work, led by the 5G project stream, is detailed in SD-407 5G Fixed Mobile Convergence. 

Joint sessions were held across the Technical Committee examining other aspects of 5G where the Forum’s expertise could be applied. In particular, the impact network slicing and access convergence will have on transport networks. Network slicing, the ability to construct mission-specific virtual networks leveraging the 5G core, is expected to be a major new revenue source for carriers. This will allow carriers to move into new adjacencies such as smart cities, IoT and industrial/critical, real-time applications. The intention is to allow wireline to seamlessly integrate into the 5G ecosystem. This work is coordinated with the Innovation Group, the Routing and Transport Work Area, the SDN/NFV Work Area and other standards organizations that are part of the larger 5G ecosystem.

Work on Nodal Requirements for Hybrid Access (WT-378) is being finalized and is expected to be published shortly. Hybrid access offers converged carriers an opportunity to leverage both wireline and wireless assets to provide high-bandwidth services, increased reliability and faster fulfilment. It also gives them additional options as to how they serve their customers in areas where fiber deployment would be extremely challenging.

The EVPN work discussed in the Q3 newsletter has now been published and is available on the public website. This work provides the essential architecture and equipment requirements for using the EVPN technology developed in IETF and IEEE for providing cloud services, video distribution and mobile backhaul. EVPN provides scalability, resiliency and operational enhancements over previous technologies used to provide Ethernet services such as PBB, VPWS and VPLS. These enhancements help meet the higher performance and more versatile needs of today's networks and, in particular, transport for 5G networks, both fixed and mobile. 

Planning for 2019 was also carried out, with potential new projects suggested. This information is available on the wiki.

To find out more about the Routing and Transport Work Area’s work, see: https://wiki.broadband-forum.org/display/BBF/Routing+and+Transport.

Innovation Group empowers an ultra-fast world with BoF session

A BoF session on ‘powering in an ultrafast world’ was held on the first day of the quarterly meeting in Glasgow this week. The jam-packed session addressed the issues and challenges operators and equipment providers are facing when building ultrafast access networks. 

Presentations were given by AT&T, Openreach, Huawei, InCoax, Nokia and VoltServer and were followed by discussions on how the Broadband Forum can overcome key hurdles in enabling rapid and remote broadband deployments. Several suggestions for future work were made and the first step will be to look deeper into common operator challenges, particularly around battery back-up under local power fail and how they can be improved to support high availability broadband services and DPU powering (both forward and reverse).

For more insight into the Innovation group’s work, please visit: https://wiki.broadband-forum.org/display/BBF/Innovation+Group.

Making milestones: SDN/NFV Work Area ends successful year with newly published application notes and significant progress in CloudCO and FANS

• Target: To drive the migration of SDN and NFV into broadband networks to facilitate the agile deployment of new customized distributed broadband services and applications.
• Progress: The Work Area gained significant momentum, with a new project stream confirmed - Automated Intelligent Management. This work will explore how machine learning and AI can improve service providers’ operations, as well as management of access and home networks. A document on FANS interfaces (WT-386) also reached final ballot, with its associated white paper also entering straw ballot.
• Outcomes: The Work Area published seven of its 14 application notes that have been authored, these form the basis of the use cases that drive the interfaces and test cases for CloudCO. These use cases were demonstrated for the first time at this year’s Broadband World Forum and are now publicly available on the Broadband Forum website.

During the Q4 meeting, a new project stream within the Work Area was launched – “Automated Intelligent Management”. In light of this, work on the first working text (WT-436: Access & Home Network O&M Automation/Intelligence) of the project stream began. This project will focus on how machine learning and AI can be applied to data to improve the operations of service providers and help manage access and home networks. It was agreed at the meeting to add several use cases which will be worked upon in the future, with the aim to help drive automation into network operations, while reducing Operational Expenditure (OpEx) costs and improving customer experience.

First contributions to a new working text (WT-435: NETCONF Requirements for Access Nodes and Broadband Access Abstraction) were also discussed and agreed. This builds on a study document previously produced within the FAN group to help provide the necessary management capability between the CloudCO and any management and control elements that need to interact with them. 

Continuing this momentum, the group also agreed to start work on a new specification for management of a virtual OMCI interface. This work will consider the virtualization of PON OMCI functionality and the related standardization that is required to achieve interoperability between various management functions.

The group’s work on CloudCO Interfaces (WT-411) made a leap in progress following an agreement to significantly restructure the document, including the addition of models to support access network maps and equipment inventories. Moving forward, collaboration will be carried out with the Common YANG group to develop these models into YANG models.

The FANS Project Stream also made great progress, as it entered its final documentation on FANS interfaces (WT-386) into final ballot and its associated technical marketing whitepaper entering straw ballot. This delivers the first issue of a suite of documents that will enable the industry to share a single physical network infrastructure between multiple Communication Service Providers (CSPs), allowing them to differentiate their products which are offered over the infrastructure.

Lastly, work on the group’s co-existence and migration document (WT-408) saw several contributions discussed, which led to the agreement that the editor would undertake a clean-up of the document to align with new guidelines that were agreed during the meeting. This will help provide a clearer direction for the document to enable contributors to progress its development.

More information about the SDN/NFV Work Area can be found at: For more on the Wireline-Wireless Convergence Work Area, please see: https://wiki.broadband-forum.org/display/BBF/Wireline-Wireless+Convergence.  

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Welcome to new and returning members! 

We are pleased to welcome new and returning members to the Q3 meeting, including Talk Talk UK, Genexis, Domos and Furukawa.

If you are interested in joining the Broadband Forum, please contact Rhonda Heier (rheier@broadband-forum.org).

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Documents approved include:

• USP
• Gfast Certification
• Ethernet Services (EVPN)
• YANG for FTTdp Management
• Functional Model for PON Abstraction

These documents will be published in the coming days. For a full list of all work in progress, click here. Please feel free to share this information with your colleagues, so they are engaged and aware of the developments of this work.

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Broadband Forum in the news

The Broadband Forum’s CEO Robin Mersh has contributed a number of articles to well-known publications over the past quarter, with topics including Gfast, NG-PON2, 5G and the connected home. These articles appeared in ISPreview, EE Times, Mobile Marketing Magazine and Fibre Systems, and IoT Agenda, respectively. In addition, IT Wire covered the series of 5G webinars held by the Forum.

Finally, the Forum’s latest announcements – “Broadband Forum hits 5G milestone” and “Broadband Forum automates, accelerates cloud-based access deployment” – continued to attract attention from top publications, including Total Telecom, Telecom TV, The Register, Fierce Telecom, Broadband World News, Disruptive Asia, Pipeline, SDxCentral, Telecom Asia, telecoms.com and Mobile Europe. 

For all of the Forum’s latest news and updated, make sure you are following Broadband Forum on LinkedIn.

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Events Calendar 

2018 Broadband Forum Meetings

Keep the below dates free for this year’s upcoming quarterly meetings.

• 2018 Q4 Meeting: December 10-13 (Glasgow, UK)

2019 Broadband Forum Meetings

And don’t forget to save the dates for next year’s meetings. Here’s a first glance of what the calendar looks like:

• 2019 Q1 Meeting: March 18-21 (Europe)
• 2019 Q2 Meeting: June 17-20 (Asia)
• 2019 Q3 Meeting: September 2-5 (Europe)
• 2019 Q4 Meeting: September 2-5 (Americas)

Sponsorship opportunities are available for the Forum’s remaining 2018 and 2019 quarterly meetings.

Sponsoring a meeting is a great way to highlight your company and exhibit your company’s innovation in the broadband industry – including demonstrations or prototypes – while showing your support of the Broadband Forum.  Opportunities vary and can be customized to accommodate a variety of budgets.

Please view the list of our standard sponsorship packages and benefits at:https://wiki.broadband-forum.org/display/BBF/Sponsorship+Opportunities.  

If you are interested in sponsoring a meeting, please contact Rhonda Heier at rheier@broadband-forum.org.

Other dates for your diary:

• SDN NFV World Congress 2018: October 8-12, The Hague, Netherlands
• Broadband World Forum: October 23-25, Berlin, Germany 
• BASE Las Vegas: October 28, Encore Hotel, Las Vegas
• Total Telecom Congress: October 30-31, London, UK
• Convergence India: January 29-31, New Delhi, India

Established in 2012, SDN NFV World Congress creates the principal market focus for network innovation and has grown to become the world's largest meeting place for carrier Network Transformation industry leaders.

1,700+ executives, decision makers, leaders and activists meet, learn and exchange knowledge face-to-face in The Hague, watched by a global audience via live webcast.

Broadband Forum CEO Robin Mersh will present the OB-BAA project during a presentation on Thursday, October 11 at 12.05pm.

Looking beyond hype and buzzwords, Broadband World Forum is the only event in the world with an exhibition and agenda focused exclusively on network infrastructure.

The first morning of the event will see the Broadband Forum host an exclusive executive workshop that will review the developments in broadband networks and services over the last three years, and will look to develop a plan that brings open standards and the agility of ‘open source’ software together. Areas which will be covered include the changing business climate, the requirements of the operators, the promise of programmable networks, developing the new functionality and the process for migrating from the existing broadband network to the new one.

Following this, innovative demos of the Broadband Forum’s latest developments, including USP and OB-BAA will take place at its interop pavilion, part of the Broadband World Forum exhibition, and CEO Robin Mersh will speak on “The new Broadband network - powered by Open Standards and Open Source” on Wednesday, October 24 at 2.30pm as part of the conference.

Total Telecom Congress 2018 is back in London on October 30-31 and promises to be bigger and better than ever.

With 5 streams, 200+ expert speakers and over 700 attendees, it's a must-attend for anyone who wants to be at the forefront of telco industry transformation.

No matter where your interest lies – from digital transformation, to virtualization, to customer experience, 5G, data driven technologies and IoT – we have content and speakers tailored just for you.

Broadband Forum members who are currently working in a consumer facing telco have a chance to attend the event with a free guest pass – please email Christopher.sedgwick@totaltele.com for more information.

If you do not quality for this, you can still secure your place today. Use discount code RXLP when booking for 15% off your pass.

Convergence India is the only platform in this region which demonstrates convergence of technologies in Telecom, IT, Broadcast & Digital media sectors.

The expo will showcase latest trends and technologies related to Telecom, Broadcast, Cable and Satellite TV, Cloud & Big Data, IoT, Digital Homes, Mobile devices, Film and Radio, Content Creation, Management and Delivery, etc. and also provides engagement with digital innovators, international business gurus, telecom and broadcasting czars, leaders from IT & Internet and IoT industries. It is a mecca of mega-minds accumulating under one roof to take Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Digital India ahead, thus resulting in empowering the citizens of the country by transforming the landscape of Indian economy.

/BBF/SDN+and+NFV.

WWC continues to execute on 5G

• Target: Address the needs of converged operators, which have both wireline and mobile networks deployed and are in a position to leverage all their assets with combined subscriber offerings.
• Progress: The Wireline-Wireless Convergence Work Area (WWC) completed its study on Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) and its inputs contributed to the finalization of the 3GPP study work. The group also progressed to defining the document structure and plan to execute on the necessary specifications to make FMC a reality.
• Outcomes: Complete solutions to FMC will be delivered in the release 16 timeframe as originally planned.

Work in the WWC Work Area continued to gain pace, addressing the needs of converged operators with both wireline and mobile networks deployed who are in a position to leverage all their assets with combined subscriber offerings. This will allow converged operators to provide a uniform experience to their customers irrespective of the access or appliance they are using. This will be supported by a common and streamlined back office systems and control plane.

On the journey to making this happen, the study work on 5G fixed access concluded at the Q4 meeting. The study, being carried out jointly with 3GPP, outlined the necessary changes to 5G core specifications and to Broadband Forum specified networks. This puts the work on track to deliver a family of specifications on FMC, coordinated with 3GPP’s release 16 efforts.

The Forum is taking an important role in developing 5G, making recommendations for the connection points between the fixed and 5G mobile core networks in order to drive core convergence. This work, led by the 5G project stream, is detailed in SD-407 5G FMC. 

Joint sessions were held across the Technical Committee examining other aspects of 5G where the Forum’s expertise could be applied. In particular, with BUS, which saw the go forward plan to execute CPE changes for FMC firmed up. This will enable USP, and its predecessor, TR-069, to also contribute to the value proposition of FMC and 5G.

WWC is now entering the normative phase of this work with the specifications set to be finalized by the end of 2019.

For more on the Wireline-Wireless Convergence Work Area, please see: https://wiki.broadband-forum.org/display/BBF/Wireline-Wireless+Convergence.

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Welcome to new and returning members! 

We are pleased to welcome new and returning members to the Q4 meeting, including Furukawa Electric, Predictable Network Solutions (PNSol), BQ and TQ Delta.

We would like to welcome PNSol, Talk Talk Group, Domos and our newest Principal member, Telstra, to their first quarterly meeting.

Are you interested in becoming the next member of the industry’s leading standards body in defining Broadband Networks - the Broadband Forum? Membership will not only accelerate your company’s progress but enable you to become a key influencer in developing 5G, the Cloud, the Connected Home and Access Networks. Those who are interested in joining before the end of 2018 are invited to apply for a five Quarter Membership. 2019 Annual Memberships are also now being accepted. 

To learn more about the benefits of Membership, please contact Rhonda Heier, Membership Development Manager, at rheier@broadband-forum.org. 

Documents:

• WT-384 - passed final ballot
• WT-331: Using PON for Mobile Backhaul – passed final ballot
• WT-338i1 (Reverse Power Feed) – in final ballot
• WT-416 - out for final ballot
• WT-114i3a4 (BA17ade RTX): VDSDL2 - going to final ballot
• WT-347 (CPE SELT Calibration) - - going to final ballot

For a full list of all work in progress, click here. Please feel free to share this information with your colleagues, so they are engaged and aware of the developments of this work.

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Broadband Forum in the news

The Broadband Forum’s CEO Robin Mersh has contributed a number of articles to well-known publications over the past quarter, including Pipeline magazine’s October edition on 5G transport. An article on ALT and USP is scheduled for publication in Telecom Tech Outlook in December, as well as a by-line on OB-BAA in InterComms magazine. 

The Forum made a number of major announcements in the month of October, including the results of its latest USP Plugfest, the launch of its new open source WiFi Mesh project with the prpl foundation, its plans to take the ‘reigns’ on the highly regarded Ultrafast Broadband Seminar from TNO and also a piece on the Forum’s new approach to combining the best of open source and open standards, live from the renowned Broadband World Forum. These announcements attracted attention from a number of top-tier publications, including Optical Connections, Advanced Television, Telecompaper and Telecom TV.

For all of the Forum’s latest news and updated, make sure you are following the Broadband Forum on LinkedIn.

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Events Calendar 

2019 Broadband Forum Meetings

And don’t forget to save the dates for next year’s meetings. Here’s a first glance of what the calendar looks like:

• 2019 Q1 Meeting: March 18-21 - Warsaw, Poland, Europe
• 2019 Q2 Meeting: June 17-20 - Seoul, Korea, Asia
• 2019 Q3 Meeting: September 2-5 - Europe
• 2019 Q4 Meeting: December 2-5 Americas

Sponsorship opportunities are available for the Forum’s 2019 quarterly meetings.

Sponsoring a meeting is a great way to highlight your company and exhibit your company’s innovation in the broadband industry – including demonstrations or prototypes – while showing your support of the Broadband Forum. Opportunities vary and can be customized to accommodate a variety of budgets.

Please view the list of our standard sponsorship packages and benefits at: https://wiki.broadband-forum.org/display/BBF/Sponsorship+Opportunities.  

If you are interested in sponsoring a meeting, please contact Rhonda Heier at rheier@broadband-forum.org.

Other dates for your diary:

• CES: Jan 8-11, Las Vegas, Nevada, US
• Convergence India: January 29-31, New Delhi, India
• Gigabit Access 2019: April 2-3, Brussels, Belgium
• ONUG Spring Meeting: April 7-8, Dallas, Texas, US
• China SDN/NFV/AI Conference 2019: April 17-18, Beijing, China

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Contact information

Questions or ideas? Contact the Broadband Forum  +1 510.492.4020 or email info@broadband-forum.org

Happy Holidays from Broadband Forum!

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