Focus shifts to Quality of Experience and service-orientated ecosystem at SPAC session

A productive Service Provider Action Council (SPAC) session during the first day of the quarterly meeting sparked debate and garnered key insights from many in the audience, both face-to-face and virtually. The session focused on what value can be derived from a services-led approach to standards work for the service provider community. This would, of course, have to be reviewed and refreshed in alignment with other Standards Development Organizations (SDOs). Broadband Forum outlined its desire for agile network service delivery from Proof of Concept to real-world deployments, monetization and differentiation of services and a multi-service broadband network.

When broadband speed and bandwidth is no longer an inhibitor, Quality of Experience (QoE) will be regarded with equal importance or even as more important, was the message from the Broadband Forum leadership team. It was observed that traditional revenue was declining with the majority of employers willing to adopt home working and harness new revenue models that keep residential broadband and the home worker separate. Broadband Forum outlined its strategic approach to shift from typically connection-based broadband to a service-orientated ecosystem, and the requirements across the network to deliver an end-to-end QoE service model.

The session, which was opened to all those in attendance, including members and guests, covered an array of topics and pinpointed notable areas that the organization can focus on moving forward. This included the requirement for recognized, defined and appropriate QoE metrics and the need to actively engage with global regulators as regulations can have an impact on price and implementation. How to offer differentiated service offerings to each customer was another discussion point, as well as delivering improved monitoring that enables autonomous networks.

The common conversation was that the Forum needed to collaborate with other SDOs, as well as recognize the digital divide and understand that not everyone has the same QoE. In the future, Broadband Forum must highlight how it can support and educate the whole industry to deliver broadband growth to all of those underserved locations and communities. Another area of discussion revolved around addressing niche markets, such as gaming, with improved QoE and consistent latency. With the average consumer not understanding what latency is, marketing teams will have to simplify to express this coherently to their customers.

Moving forward for future quarterly meetings, there will be an open discussion session for guest keynote speakers to address hot topics or analyst insights, and we invite guests that might be interested in discussing a trending topic to contact the team at info@broadband-forum.org.

BASe industry education and events continues at full steam ahead 

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The BASe series continues at a breakneck pace in its mission to inform and educate the industry. During 2022, there will be a total of 14 vBASe Webinars, seven BASe Knowledge Webinars, a vBASe State of Broadband Summit, vBASe APAC, and seven face-to-face events. A special thank you goes out to all participants at our UFBB 2022 in Den Haag, The Netherlands, with 33 panelist sessions across three days and a great turnout of 100 service provider and vendor technologists. UFBB was a great precursor ahead of welcoming our members back to in-person quarterly meetings.

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Across the three days, we attracted a number of insightful panelists, and the interaction during the workshops and the breaks proved yet again that nothing can replace the success of in-person return. It goes without saying that the whole BASe team would like to thank our sponsors, trade associations and attendees who travelled and participated in the event.

BASe sponsorship is at an all-time high with 20 current platinum and gold sponsors. We are excited by the number of returning and new sponsors, and the high level of thought leadership they bring to our events.

Through our virtual BASe (vBASe) events and Knowledge vBASe events, it is exciting that we continue to drive such a high number of attendee registrations and experience a significant amount of post event downloads, as well as live attendees. If you have ever missed any of our vBASe webinars, you can always download recordings of them at https://www.broadband-forum.org/category_meetings_and_events/past-base-events.

To find out more information on BASe events, sponsorship, and speaker opportunities, visit here. If you want to catch up on the latest Broadband Forum webinars, download the respective recording and slide decks here.

Thank you to our BASe 2022 sponsors!

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Work Area Updates

For a full list of all Technical Reports approved by the Broadband Forum, click here. Please feel free to share this information with your colleagues, so they are engaged and aware of the developments of this work. For additional insight and to get involved, sign up for the members-only Broadband Forum tools and access your account using your company email address.

ATA - Aloha - wrapping up 2022 in paradise!

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Target: The Access & Transport Architecture Work Area maintains primary architectural work of the Broadband Forum. This work reflects the control, management and data plane aspects of the Broadband Forum’s defined and new architectures. These architectures are augmented to leverage new industry practices while protecting the investment in broadband networks already deployed.

Outcomes: 

• Performance, Experience, Application Testing Project Stream - TR-452.2 Quality Attenuation Measurements using Active Test Protocols - Final Ballot passed! Document posted to the public website. The latest press release can be viewed here

Thank you to our Q3 Meeting sponsor, Nokia!

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Nokia’s General Manager, Broadband Networks’ Geert Heyninck highlighted that there is a long history of fixed networks in Antwerp. Geert advised that Broadband Forum’s work has played an instrumental role in defining universal specifications and increasing the number of overall global broadband subscribers.

The insightful presentation also outlined the change in thinking from Fiber-To-The-Home to Fiber-To-Everything. This disruption is being enabled by the technology evolution, according to Geert, such as infinite capacity that can serve many applications, to the transition to Software Defined Networking, the need for low-latency and more sustainability. These are key factors behind this shift in the need for Fiber-To-Everything.

The audience was informed of another important trend, which was the introduction of new and smaller players through investment, government funding and infrastructure builders.

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Geert informed the attendees that the industry needs to play an increasingly important role to accelerate smaller fiber rollouts by new players, through reference implementations, deployment guidelines, simplified configurations and align with non-telco industry bodies.

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Work Area Updates

For a full list of all Technical Reports approved by the Broadband Forum, click here. Please feel free to share this information with your colleagues, so they are engaged and aware of the developments of this work. For additional insight and to get involved, sign up for the members-only Broadband Forum tools and access your account using your company email address.

ATA - Finally back to in person meetings!

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Target: The Access & Transport Architecture Work Area maintains primary architectural work of the Broadband Forum. This work reflects the control, management and data plane aspects of the Broadband Forum’s defined and new architectures. These architectures are augmented to leverage new industry practices while protecting the investment in broadband networks already deployed.

Outcomes: 

• Mobile Transport & Routing Project Stream - MR-522 Mobile-transport network slice instance Management Interfaces (MMI) - Released!
• Performance, Experience, Application Testing Project Stream - WT-452.2 Quality Attenuation Measurements using Active Test Protocols- Straw Ballot comment resolution completed! 

Progress:   

• Mobile Transport & Routing Project Stream - Next steps discussion identified a number of potential future work items for the project stream.
• Access Architecture Project Stream - WT-459i2 working through Straw Ballot comments making significant progress.
• Access Architecture Project Stream - WT-474 Subscriber Session Steering project continuing YANG data modeling project (YMSSS) for the entities and relationships defined in WT-474 offline via BitBucket.
• Access Architecture Project Stream - WT-487 DBNG for Wired Access - Under development.
• Access Architecture Project Stream - WT-497 - WiFi Authentication - Contribution started and the first contributions were adopted.
  
  
• Performance, Experience, Application Testing Project Stream - WT-471i3 - IP- WT-471 Issue 3: IP Layer Capacity Metrics and Measurement – Incorporating updates from the OB-UDPST project team.
• Performance, Experience, Application Testing Project Stream - Interest was expressed in starting QED work on data models and using Layer 2 performance measurement (e.g., Y.1731).
• ATA Marketing Group - See Join or Leave BBF Groups and Email Lists to subscribe.

For more information on the ATA Work Area’s ongoing work, visit: Access and Transport Architecture home page.

Key components of the "App-Enabled Services Gateway" near completion

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• - Final Ballot passed! (This will be posted to the public website soon).
• Access Architecture Project Stream - MD-459.4 CUPS for a Disaggregated BNG: Objective and Scope started (during ATA interim meeting in London).

Progress: 

• Access Architecture Project Stream - WT-459i2 working through Straw Ballot comments and making significant progress.
• Access Architecture Project Stream - WT-474 Subscriber Session Steering project continuing YANG data modeling project (YMSSS) for the entities and relationships defined in WT-474 offline via BitBucket.
• Access Architecture Project Stream - WT-487 DBNG for Wired Access - Under development - protocol analysis phase and debates.
• Access Architecture Project Stream - WT-497 - WiFi Authentication - Under development.
• Mobile Transport & Routing Project Stream - Next steps discussion identified a number of potential future work items for the project stream.
• Performance, Experience, Application Testing Project Stream - WT-452.4 QED Measurement Formats (started at ATA interim meeting in London).
• Performance, Experience, Application Testing Project Stream - WT-452.5 Quality Attenuation Measurements Using L2 PM OAM (started at ATA interim meeting in London).

ATA Marketing Group - See Join or Leave BBF Groups and Email Lists to subscribe.

For more information on ATA Work Area’s ongoing work, visit: Access and Transport Architecture home page.

Key components of the app-enabled services gateway being finalized, and Smart Home Project Stream launched

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Target: Finalize key technical components of the app-enabled services gateway.

Outcomes: WT-181 Device:2.16 and USP version 1.3 are on track to be released by Q2 2023 along with important deployment guidelines in WT-488 and WT-492.

The Broadband User Services Work Area is finalizing the key components necessary for operators and vendors to have a standardized app-enabled services gateway to realize new revenue-generating services and efficiently deploy applications in the connected user network. This includes updates to its flagship standards, TR-369/USP and the TR-181 Device:2 Data Model to support containerized applications on end-user devices, as well as a guide to developing those devices (WT-492) and deploying them in a managed heterogeneous network.

The group also agreed to start a new Project Stream to standardize an Operator-Grade Smart Home. This will be an industry-wide effort focused on leveraging USP and Device:2 to fill gaps in the standardized smart home, define requirements for smart home devices to qualify for service provider deployments, and test plans to support the project. Look for news in early 2023 on this much needed work.

Take a look at the BUS Work Area’s latest work: Broadband User Services home page.

Common YANG never sleeps; new TR-383 Amendment is on the way

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Target: Specify YANG modules that are applicable to multiple Work Areas, provide support to those same Work Areas for their specific YANG projects, and maintain YANG Best Current Practices, processes, procedures, and tools.

Progress: Good progress on the functional modeling of nodes supporting MoCA Access 2.5 interfaces.

Outcomes: Completion of Straw Ballot comment resolution of Amendment 6 of TR-383; accepted proposal to define a YANG model for bulk data export via IPFIX.

The Common YANG Work Area continued to make good progress on its key project deliverables, in close collaboration with both SDN/NFV and FAN Work Areas.

Straw Ballot comment resolution on Amendment 6 of TR-383 ‘Common YANG Modules for Access Networks’ was completed, with an overall objective for publication by Q1 2023. This next amendment aims to add functionality that addresses scale in large networks, as well as further improving existing functionality.

A first proposal was reviewed covering the functional modeling of the Multimedia over Coax (MoCA) Head-end and Client Nodes, as part of WT-496 ‘YANG Modules for MoCA Access 2.5 Interface’. It is expected that derived YANG data models will be brought forward in a follow-up interim conference call.

The group accepted a proposal to define a YANG model for the management of bulk data export via IPFIX. This will be added in a future amendment of WT-383. The group will start a review of the associated YANG module specification.

Joint sessions were held with the SDN/NFV and FAN Work Areas to review items of common interest, including proposed changes to Issue 2 WT-413 ‘SDN Management and Control Interfaces for CloudCO Network Functions’, contributions on Issue 2 of WT-386 ‘FANS Access Network Sharing Interfaces’ and work on PON management.

Moving forward, the group will continue the formal review of the specification of YANG modules for VoIP; this topic did not get addressed at the meeting but will be covered during a series of interim conference calls. This work is intended to be covered in a future amendment of TR-383.

For an overview of the Common YANG Work Area’s current activities, please visit: Common YANG home page.

FAN continues key progress across its Project Streams

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Target: The Fiber Access Networks (FAN) Work Area specifies and maintains PON architecture and nodal requirements, PON abstraction and mobile backhaul requirements. It is also responsible for PON test suites related to ITU-T PON Conformance and Interoperability, and compliance Test Plans related to XGS-PON, NG-PON2 and PMD/TC Layer. Lastly, it is responsible for ITU PON YANG data model specifications.

In Progress:

Unassigned Project Stream

In the last quarter and during the Q4 Meeting, the Unassigned Project Stream continued with:

• WT-142 Issue 4 Framework for CPE WAN Management Protocol (CWMP) and USP enabled PON devices was prepared for Final Ballot.  Final ballot closes on Monday, 19 December 2022. 
• Multi-management study on how to handle multiple management domains (e.g., OMCI and USP/CWMP). This study continued to review contributions related to firmware management and VLAN bootstrapping.

During the Q4 meeting, the Interoperability Project Stream progressed:

• Draft version of DTP-255 and new contributions will be discussed. 
• DTP-247 Issue 4 Corrigendum 1 Straw Ballot version will be prepared for future FAN teleconference.

PON Management Project Stream

During the interim meeting period, it was identified that WT-385 PON YANG and WT-489 ONU Authentication had dependencies before they can be completed. It was agreed that WT-385 needed to be brought to Straw Ballot (along with WT-489). During the Q4 meeting, there were discussions around how to publish WT-385 to unblock WT-489 Straw Ballot. A path was agreed upon.

A new NPIF on emulated schema mount was discussed in the Q4 meeting. Those interested in cosigning are encouraged to reach out to the NPIF author.

25GS-PON Project Stream

New WT-309 contributions were discussed in Q4 meeting.

G.HSP 50G-PON Project Stream

New WT-309 and WT-423 contributions were discussed at the Q4 meeting.

For more on the FAN Work Area’s ongoing work, please see: Fiber Access Networks home page.

PHYtx Work Area publishes

During the meeting, the USP and Data Model Project Streams focused on working with joint prpl Foundation/Broadband Forum members to use USP to enable microservices (that is, containerized applications for the app-enabled services gateway). Coupled with updates to the TR-181 data model for improved Software Module Management (SMM) and more, these key components will be released early next year.

The Software Hardware, and Applications Project Stream (SHAPS) continued work on WT-492 for a solid vision of the “App-Enabled Services Gateway (ASG)”. Lookout for more news on the finalization of the "design principles" behind the ASG as the project nears completion.

Lastly, the Subscriber Network Infrastructure Project Stream (SNIPS) continued its work on the common terminology and architecture for the operator-grade end-user network, relevant to a host of other work both present and in the future (WT-488), and finalized tests and metrics for Wi-Fi 6E/mesh/multi-AP tests for operator-grade Wi-Fi (WT-398i3).

Take a look at the BUS Work Area’s latest work: Broadband User Services home page.

Common YANG broadens applicability to include MoCA Access

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Target: Specify YANG modules that are applicable to multiple Work Areas, provide support to those same Work Areas for their specific YANG projects, and maintain YANG Best Current Practices, processes, procedures, and tools.

Progress: Moving forward on the next Amendment of WT-383 via enhancements for existing YANG models, as well as providing new modeled methods for solving the scale puzzle.

Outcomes: The group kicked off the specification of YANG Modules for MoCA Access 2.5 interfaces.

The Common YANG Work Area continued to make good progress on its key project deliverables, in close collaboration with both SDN/NFV and FAN Work Areas.

Work on Amendment 6 of TR-383 ‘Common YANG Modules for Access Networks’ continues to move forward, with several contributions accepted on QoS and multicast. Overall, the next amendment aims to add functionality that addresses scale in large networks, as well as to further improve existing functionality.

The specification of YANG modules for VoIP is progressing well, with a formal review planned after completion of all related open pull requests. This work is intended to be covered in a future amendment of TR-383.

The updated New Project Initiation Form (NPIF) for YANG Modules for MoCA Access 2.5 was reviewed and the group agreed to kick off the work in WT-496. An initial data model proposal was brought forward and went through a first review.

A joint review was held with the SDN/NFV and FAN Work Areas to review the updated NPIF for Unified Access Management (UAM) Abstraction. Further scope clarification is requested and will be discussed as part of an interim conference call.

For an overview of the Common YANG Work Area’s current activities, please visit: Common YANG home page.

FAN continues key progress across its Project Streams

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Target: The Fiber Access Networks (FAN) Work Area specifies and maintains PON architecture and nodal requirements, PON abstraction and mobile backhaul requirements. It is also responsible for PON test suites related to ITU-T PON Conformance and Interoperability, and compliance Test Plans related to XGS-PON, NG-PON2 and PMD/TC Layer. Lastly, it is responsible for ITU and IEEE PON YANG data model specifications.

In Progress: Unassigned Project Stream

In the last quarter, the Unassigned Project Stream continued with:

• The development of WT-142 Issue 4 Framework for CPE WAN Management Protocol (CWMP) and USP enabled PON devices. WT-142 Issue 4 contributions were integrated into the Working Text and this was prepared for Straw Ballot during the Q3 meeting.
• Multi-management study on how to handle multiple management domains (e.g., OMCI and USP). This study continued to review contributions related to firmware management and VLAN bootstrapping.

During the last quarter and Q3 meeting, the Interoperability Project Stream progressed:

• DTP-255 Issue 2 GPON Interoperability Test Plan: The group continued to review test cases for this Draft Test Plan and discussed a potential appendix to describe configuration used to achieve these test cases.
• Draft version of DTP-255 will be discussed. A draft of DTP-247 Issue 4 Corrigendum 1 version was discussed.   FAN will schedule a future Straw Ballot Readiness meeting for this Test Plan.

PON Management Project Stream

 Over the last quarter, the PON Management Project Stream continued with:

• WT-385 ITU-PON YANG Management Issue 2 Amendment 1 work. Contributions included alarm identities.

During the Q3 meeting, the PON Management Project Stream reviewed:

• Combined OLT-ONT management and WT-489 features. A way forward to add ONU modeling to WT-385 was proposed. The group agreed with the principle of having a list of ONUs based on IETF schema mount within the scope of WT-385, but with the option to build something else next to it (e.g., via a choice statement or a feature).

During the Q3 meeting, two new NPIFs were approved:

• 50G PON
• 25G PON (A project page will be created with open questions to be finalized)

PON Management Project Stream

In the last quarter, the PON Management Project Stream continued with:

• WT-385 ITU-PON YANG Management Issue 2 Amendment 1 work. Contributions included support of WT-489 ONU authentication.

Outcome:

• DTP-247 Issue 4 Corrigendum 1 PON Conformance Test Plan will be prepared for Straw Ballot at the Q3 meeting.
• High Speed PON study impact was concluded and the impacted Broadband Forum FAN areas were identified.

For more on the FAN Work Area’s ongoing work, please see: Fiber Access Networks home page.

Innovation Group is back underway!

As we return to face-to-face meetings after this long pause, the Innovation Group is welcoming the submission of any ideas or projects that members might feel are disruptive or may not perfectly align to any existing areas of focus within the Broadband Forum.

The Innovation Group will review the proposals and, as it sees fit, help to organize a wider Broadband Forum discussion, with the creation of a workshop or a Birds of a Feather (BoF) session. Please approach Christele Bouchat and Mauro Tilocca, the Innovation Group Leaders, with your ideas and projects and the group can look at scheduling dedicated innovation tracks at our quarterly meetings in the future. Any accepted submissions may act as a catalyst for the creation of new projects within the Forum.

TR-338 Issue 3

Target: To help service providers deploy equipment that will provide a better Quality of Experience (QoE) for their end-users.

Progress: Resolved all the technical and editorial comments on the Working Text of 'Reverse Power Feed Testing Issue 3' ‘Appendix G Australian cable models’ (WT-338i3285i2a1). WT-476 ‘G.hn Access Performance Test Plan’ is on track to include performance pass/fail metricsscheduled for Straw Ballot comment resolution.

Outcome: WT-338i3 is TR-338 ‘Reverse Power Feed Test Plan’ Issue 3 has been published. DTP-337i4c1 and WT-285i2a1 are ready for Final Ballot approval.

At this meeting, the PHYtx Work Area addressed all remaining the technical and editorial comments provided during the Straw Ballot review of WT-338i3 ‘Reverse Power Feed Test Plan’285 Issue 2 Amendment 1 ‘Appendix G Australian cable models’. The Working Text is now ready for Final Ballot approval.

TR-338 Issue 3 ‘Reverse Power Feed Test Plan’ has been published at the Q4 Meeting. This issue adds testing of reverse power feeding over coaxial cable deployments, according to ETSI TS101 548-2, increasing the operators’ options to reliably roll out reverse powered access equipment.

After the publication of A corrigendum to TP-337i4, the PHYtx Work Area put forward a goal to address certification of the accuracy of diagnostic parameters, such as Actual Transmit power (ACTATP); Quiet line Noise (QLN) and Active Line Noise (ALN). Having a clearer view of these physical parameters help to deliver better QoE by enabling proactive maintenance in the access network.

The Plugfest to obtain the WT-476 ‘G.hn Access Performance Test Plan’ pass/fail metrics has been set for September 26-30. In cooperation with the HomeGrid Forum (HGF), multiple Point-to-Point use cases have been introduced in order to better reflect the GHNA deployment scenarios in the Test Plan.

G.fast Certification Test plan, has been approved to go to Final ballot.

Performance pass/fail metrics derived from a Plugfest held on September 26-30 have been included in WT-476 ‘G.hn Access Performance Test Plan’. The document is now ready to undergo its second Straw Ballot commenting round, immediately followed by the Final Ballot approval prior to the 2023 Q1 Meeting.

When approved, the performance requirements When complete, the performance requirement of WT-476 will become part of the GHNA Certification Program in collaboration with the HomeGrid Forum. The Test Plan is planned to be ready for Straw ballot review by the Q4 Meeting.

For further insight into the current For further insight into the current work of the Physical Layer Transmission Work Area, visit the Physical Layer Transmission home page.

SDN/NFV

closes in on publication of TR-

477 on disaggregated Access Nodes

Target: Define the Cloud-based Central Office (CloudCO) architecture using SDN, NFV, and cloud technologies to support network functions fundamentally redefining the architecture of access and aggregation networks and support the migration of SDN and NFV into all aspects of broadband networks facilitating the agile deployment of new distributed broadband services and applications for operators with greater operational efficiency and lower cost. 

Progress: The SDN/NFV Work Area continues to progress the Cloud-based-Central Office ( CloudCO ) project for virtualized network functions, SDN management and control and CloudCO domain orchestration capabilities in Broadband Networka broadband network. The main activities currently ongoing are related to the disaggregation of the access node and to define Access Node and defining the related interfaces. The “Cloud Component” Project Stream is continuing work on Automated Intelligence Management and (AIM), Fixed Access Network Sharing . Progress continues to be made on and Smart SD-WAN.

Outcomes:

Straw Ballot of WT-477 on ‘CloudCO Enhancement - Access Node Hardware Disaggregation’ has been disaggregation is close to be completed. The publication will be finalized once all the missing data models are missing data models were created and reviewed by the Common YANG Work Area. The finalization of WT-477 will lead to inputs to and FAN Work Areas in a joint session. Further details need to be analyzed to finalize the document.

WT-413 Issue 2 on ‘SDN Management and Control Interfaces for CloudCO Network Functions’ to complete the part related to disaggregated access node and flow control interfaces. A joint session was held on the WT-413i2 with the ATA Work Area covering Edge IP and BNG Interfaces.is progressing. In a joint meeting, the SDN/NFV and Common YANG Work Areas reviewed the approach and agreed to report a detailed list of data models, so that vendors can rapidly discover the data models to be implemented for each access network function.

On the Artificial Intelligence and On the Artificial Intelligence and automation fronts, work continues on WT-486, which specifies the interfaces for the Automated Intelligent Management previously published AIM Framework specification TR-436 previously approved. A discussion was held on how to complete the document with missing interfaces, and the team agreed to base the proposal on what is already available from TM Forum and then prepare a liaison to TM Forum to support. While . Contributions were submitted on the missing interfaces and now the document is almost ready for Straw Ballot. It was also discussed whether further details are needed for specific implementations and if a liaison needs to be submitted to TM Forum. While this is a different Project Stream within the SDN/NFV Work Area, network automation and lowclosed-maintenance loop operations are imperative for simplifying network validation and engineering, streamlining network deployment and upgrades, and improving operations with less error-prone and automated OAM in the CloudCO environment. This will also automate some management functions and help realize rapid troubleshooting and pre-emptive maintenance.

There was a proposal related to an initial set of YANG data models for WT-386i2 on Fixed Access Network Sharing discussed in a joint call with the Common YANG and FAN Work Areas. It was agreed that comments would be received ahead of final approval.

The Work Area has also begun work on approved NPIFs on AI for Broadband Access and for three focus areas. This includes Access Node Disaggregation Issue (WT-477i2) and will continue the discussion around the future work planning. The group presented a proposal to extend the vOMCI specification to include telemetry without impacting ITU-T specification (G.988) on OMCI and they agreed to open a NPIF for an amendment to include this and other inputs.

There was a proposal related to the sharing models for WT-386i2 on FAN Sharing with an initial plan to submit draft data models for the Q4 Meeting and updating the document for the Q1 2023 Meeting.

A proposal for collaboration between Broadband Forum and the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) has been proposed. The two groups have two different goals with Broadband Forum developing specifications (architecture, interfaces) and TIP developing common RFI requirements to be applied to multiple operators.

Updates were also presented about the Broadband Forum-ONF Tiger Team on BBF Adapter (VOLTHA), the CloudCO demo for Broadband World Forum and OB-BAA on current and future releases. A joint meeting between the SDN/NFV, FAN and Common YANG Work Areas dealt with a new proposal for the abstraction of northbound interfaces on a normalized YANG mount interface and data models for disaggregated OLTs and FANS.

to include new virtualized functions, AIM Framework (WT-436i2) to extend the architecture for new use cases, and on CloudCO interfaces (WT-411i2) to include the Access SDN Management and Control northbound interface intent-based interactions addressing access network topology and abstraction.

Two NPIFs were also proposed on vOMCI Telemetry (WT-451i2) with partially different scopes. It was agreed to merge them together into a single project that also includes possible impact on other documents (e.g. WT-477).

Bjørn Ivar Teigen, Head of Research at Domos discussed the notable advantage of dynamic subscriber session steeringin a blog post focused on this year’s CloudCO demo at Network X. The blog highlighted how subscriber session steering can allow an ISP to dynamically re-allocate resources between isolated slices in a running network and increase a subscriber’s bandwidth on-demand.

Bruno Cornaglia and Mengmeng Li, SDN/NFV Work Area Co-Directors at Broadband Forum discussed how disaggregating Access Nodes brings simplified operations and promotes greater competition within the supply chain. The blog post from Bruno and Mengmeng also outlined the business motivations offering greater choice for operators. 

More information about the SDN/NFV Work Area can be found at: More information about the SDN/NFV Work Area can be found at: SDN and NFV home page.

WWC

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OB-BAA’s Release 5.1.1 launched during fourth quarter

OB-BAA –Ongoing collaboration between Open Source and Open Standards continues to advance and accelerate the adoption of interoperable, standardized solutions across the industry.

The Open Broadband – Broadband Access Abstraction (OB-BAA) project team is finishing working on successfully launched Release 5.1 and finishing up the Broadband World Forum demo for presentation in October. Release 5.1 encompasses microservice discovery and integration with shared datastores .1 in November. This included enhancements and fixes to the existing OB-BAA software, providing enhancements to microservices discovery and scale testing of 10,000 ONUs. The group is currently planning also continues to plan Release 6.0 activities, due to begin in Q4with discussions continuing on identifying a list of candidates to focus on.

For more information on the OB-BAA project’s latest work, see: Open Broadband-Broadband Access Abstraction Project Home

OB-MAP and prpl Foundation continue joint collaboration

The Open Broadband – Multi Access Point (OB-MAP) project and the prpl Foundation’s prplMesh project are establishing a baseline vision of how data and control commands will be represented in TR-181. This will influence the design of the APIs presented by prplMesh. The data model (and prplMesh APIs) will meet the diagnostics and management needs of service providers that use multiple physical layer networking technologies to deliver ever-increasing broadband bandwidth and innovative services through increasingly complex home networks to end-user devices.

The OB-MAP project team has continued to collaborate with the prpl team on requirements and feature prioritization, and data modelling of multiple devices and services in a mesh network. Progress has also been made on prplMesh’s Northbound API (NAPI), and the group has been assisting with the use and definition of Broadband Forum’s USP support for internal services. There have been fruitful discussions about onboarding and setting up SSIDs across a mesh network. Support for Wi-Fi 6E in the 6Ghz band is also being discussed.Recently, work continued on defining management interfaces for:

• Network-wide SSID, with groupings and an underlying distribution system / VLAN.
• Statistics and topology for wired stations and wired backhaul
• IEEE 1905 neighbor statistics
• Unassociated station statistics
• Extender with both EasyMesh agent and USP/cloud agent
• Station statistics while roaming

For more on the OB-MAP project’s ongoing work, please see: OBMAP Home

Goldeneye Release

App-enabled services gateway, network latency and fixed broadband growth are key themes over the last quarter

Oliver Johnson, CEO of Point Topic produced a blog on the number of global fixed broadband subscribers continuing to grow. Oliver highlighted the growth markets, compared regional market shares and the countries that are leading the way in terms of fixed broadband penetration.

Ken Ko, Managing Director of Broadband Forum discussed the importance of network managed latency and outlined the key challenges and opportunities that the industry faces. As we continue to recognize and address the viewpoint that speed alone does not define a broadband subscriber user’s experience, there is a shift in focus among service providers on Quality of Experience (QoE), new Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) growth opportunities and service differentiation.

A key project that has been introduced by the Broadband Forum is the new WT-492 standard ‘Software-Based Architecture for the App-Enabled Services Gateway - Design Principles.’ An article on this project by Craig Thomas, Vice President Business Development and Strategic Marketing at Broadband Forum was published in IEEE Xplore. Craig advised how service providers’ business plans can be revolutionized by looking towards end-user network gateways, such as Wi-Fi routers, as a platform to unlock a myriad of third-party applications and services,

Craig was also interviewed by ViodiTV on the new project with the new standard presenting an opportunity for “app-store-like” functionality for end-user services, and helping service providers effectively deploy, activate and manage third-party applications. This app-enabled services gateway will allow service providers to differentiate and scale their business models to provide a more customizable offering to each subscriber.

as a key module, and further improve the test environment. The group continues to align the low-level design with OpenWRT/prpl and RDK-B. 

Members of the project team aim to submit an NPIF to the BUS Work Area to establish an RG architecture Technical Report.

There is now an opportunity for interested parties to offer contributions as we enter this key phase of implementation. The project continues to welcome interested parties, including candidates with software development experience in the C programming language, and radio module and mobile experience. 

For any interested parties (including non-Broadband Forum members) that wish to be part of the project, please sign the project participation agreement online here.

For more on the OB-5WWC project’s current work, please see: OB-5WWC Home

Welcome to our new and returning members! 

We welcomed a mix of new members and guest companies during the Q4 Meeting. We had 133 registrations, with seven first-time attendees, four guest companies comprising of DCCA Hawaii, Hawaiian Telecom, NTIA and RX Telecom, and new members of C-Data, Centec, CityFibre and Pantacor. 

Are you interested in becoming the next member of the industry’s leading standards body in defining broadband networks? 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.

We have a range of membership options for companies of all sizes, from startup companies to large corporations and not-for-profit organizations. Our new Regional Operator Membership category has further opened participation; take a look for further details of the access level privileges, benefits and requirements.

To learn more about the benefits of membership, watch the video interview with Rhonda Heier, Director of Membership Development, as Rhonda discusses the value of the Broadband Forum membership here or email rheier@broadband-forum.org for more information.

We welcome all BBF members to highlight their membership on their websites using this Member Company logo:

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Save the dates! Broadband Forum Meetings and BASe Events

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• December 13, 2022, Broadband Access Webinar, vBASe, Virtual
• March 20-23, 2023, Broadband Forum Q1 Meeting, Dallas/Fort Worth
• June 5-8, 2023, Broadband Forum Q2 Meeting, Europe TBC
• September 4-7, 2023, Broadband Forum Q3 Meeting, Virtual
• December 4-7, 2023, Broadband Forum Q4 Meeting, Asia TBC

Events Calendar 

Broadband Forum Meetings and BASe Events

Q3 2022

• September 27, 2022, WWC Knowledge Webinar on WWC IMS Update, BASe Knowledge

Q4 2022

• October 6, 2022, Broadband Access Webinar on Mobile xHaul and Fiber Access, vBASe, Virtual
• October 15, 2022, BASe North America, F2F Conference Workshop, FTTx and Connected User
• October 18-20, 2022, Network X, Four Workshops covering CloudCO and SDN Migration, Connected Subscriber, Multi-Servic Access
• November 5, 2022, Connected User Webinar on IoT and working with App providers, vBASe, Virtual
• November 15-17, 2022, PON: New Use Cases on service provider and vendor views, vBASe, Virtual
• November 29, 2022, Virtual APAC Summit on FTTx, TelcoCloud and Connected User, vBASe APAC
• December 5-8, 2022, Broadband Forum Q4 Meeting, Hawaii
• December 13, 2022, Broadband Access Webinar, vBASe, Virtual

To register for our latest events, visit: https://www.broadband-forum.org/meetings-and-events.

Sponsorship opportunities are available for Broadband Forum’s quarterly meetings and BASe events. Sponsoring Broadband Forum events 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 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.

Contact information

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