A word from Robin Mersh, Broadband Forum CEO: "Our Q3 meeting saw us venture into now familiar territory with a virtual backdrop for the second successive meeting. Despite the lack of face-to-face interaction, our meetings are as productive and fruitful as ever. The ease at which the meetings are being conducted over video further highlights the role that fixed broadband has played in keeping us connected throughout the recent uncertain months. This quarter, we bid farewell and thank you to Broadband Forum President Tom Starr who was an important member of our family for more than a quarter of a Century. This transition has seen us welcome two new additions to the Board (Ding Hai of China Unicom and Mike Talbert of Verizon – welcome to them both!) and Bernd Hesse was named as the new President. This virtual Q4 is the 54th quarterly meeting I have attended and, whilst it will not be my last, it will be the final one for me as CEO. It has been an honor and privilege to serve the broadband industry through some very exciting times. At the time of my first meeting, in Athens in 2006, we were known as DSL Forum and became Broadband Forum when DSL Forum joined with the IP/MPLS Forum. During my time of leadership at Broadband Forum, total fixed broadband users have risen from below 300 million to more than one billion. I have seen the broadband community become truly global, witnessed the birth of the Internet of Things and seen connectivity become considered as the essential fourth utility alongside water, gas and electricityThis meeting also saw the launch of a new project. The open source User Datagram Protocol (UDP) Speed Test will be a game-changer for broadband measurements and gigabit broadband..." Read more. |