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A Word from our CEO

With just a seven-week gap between our Q1 and Q2 meetings, it has been a busy time for the Broadband Forum as we look to build upon the efforts of our working groups to deliver the specifications and software that are going to continue to progress and adapt with the broadband industry in a time of great change.
Perhaps the most important contribution we can provide to the industry is to keep an unwavering focus on the implementations of the new technologies that have the most promising business cases. From this, we can bring our technical innovation to show how each can be introduced into the market and holistically managed to the benefit of all stakeholders. This quarter’s meeting is a great example of the energy that is driving the contributions to our work at impressive levels, with increased focus being put on areas such as Cloud Central Office (CloudCO), wireless-wireline convergence for the delivery of 5G and the User Services Platform, which brings our renowned TR-069 specification into the realm of consumer technology and virtualization.For the Q2 Meeting, the Forum returned to Taipei for the first time since 2014. Alongside the meeting, we were delighted to be invited to take part in the Broadband and Narrowband Convergence for IoT Realization Symposium that was organized by the Institute for Information Industry and the Industrial Development Bureau of Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, more details of which can be found later in this newsletter and our Q2 press release.The development of these technologies is a key driving force behind the Forum’s recent launch of theOpen Broadband initiative, which will enable service providers, systems integrators and suppliers to integrate new technologies into their existing offerings quickly and reliably. This initiative – which was coupled with the launch of the Open Broadband Laboratory Asia (OBLA) alongside our partners at the SDN/NFV Industry Alliance – signifies the Forum’s desire to not just keep pace with a rapidly evolving industry, but remain as innovation leaders.
We have also announced that we will once again be co-hosting TNO’s Ultra-fast Broadband Seminar in June, an event that is highly-regarded within our industry.  And there are also exciting plans afoot for Broadband World Forum in October, which we hope to be able to share with you in our next newsletter. One final point of note from the Q2 Meeting was the attendance of five new and returning members, with 13 first-time attendees. We welcome them all to the Forum - the scope of work that has been undertaken by our Work Areas throughout Q2 has been wide-ranging, and we’re looking forward to seeing our new members contributing to the Forum’s continued success!
Robin Mersh, May 2017

Open Broadband launched to accelerate delivery of new services

The Forum’s new Open Broadband initiative, a new platform for the integration and migration testing of services such as CloudCO, NFV/SDN, 5G and the IoT, was launched at May’s China SDN/NFV Conference in Beijing.

As the industry increasingly migrates towards cloud-based, programmed and virtualized systems, co-existence with existing infrastructure is key to maintaining the rapid pace of innovation and development. The initiative operates a partnership with the open source community, aligning the Forum with open source techniques while focusing on interoperability to mitigate deployment risks. 

The launch is linked to the creation of the Open Broadband Laboratory Asia, established in partnership with the SDN/NFV Industry Alliance. The lab will focus on implementing the initiative’s goals, including the migration from existing broadband infrastructures to cloud-based ones through the introduction of NFV and SDN technologies.

IoT explosion among topics at Taipei symposium

Co-located with the quarterly meeting, the Broadband and Narrowband Convergence symposium discussed at length the disruptive nature of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and the increasing importance of standards and interoperability as mobile and wireline networks converge

“The event was a great opportunity to hear the thoughts of some of the leading voices in the region on a topic that is of ever-increasing importance to the Forum’s work,” said CEO Robin Mersh. “When we speak to our operator members, it is clear the discussion about the future of network evolution is increasingly moving towards the applications and devices at the user end of the chain. Revenue isn’t generated by the network itself - it is the services that it enables that drive the business case, and that was one of the key messages we delivered at the symposium.”

Robin took part in a panel session on the challenges posed by IoT convergence alongside chairman Kevin Foster and Board member Manuel Paul, while Broadband User Services Work Area co-chair Jason Walls sat on the day’s other discussion, focusing on innovative IoT applications for 5G

Forum collaborates with IETF on YANG Catalog

Collaboration among a number of network engineers active in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Forum has resulted in the launch of the YANG Catalog, an open online repository designed to simplify the use of network management models.

The catalog’s models are specified for use in a wide variety of networking equipment and deployed by operators around the world to accelerate and automate network operations and management. 

The catalog contains both industry standards organization and vendor-specific data models, making it easy to search for and identify the maturity level of various models, as well as module type and implementation information. The Forum published its first YANG models for Fiber-To-The-distribution point (FTTdp) management software specifications last year with TR-355, and is making its work in progress public through the catalog so the industry can use the YANG models much more quickly, enabling it to perfect the models through industry feedback.

For more information about how to contribute to and participate in the YANG Catalog, please see:https://www.yangcatalog.org/about.html

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Architecture and Migration deliver on performance monitoring

Work on performance monitoring from customer equipment through to the IP edge has completed final ballot and now been published. This is an important step which will improve service providers’ ability to monitor and adjust Service Level Agreements to improve network operations accordingly

Following on from the positive progress made in Q1, the team has continued to work on the development of TR-359 Issue 2. Building on the momentum of the foundations of the NFV enhanced architecture defined by Issue 1, Issue 2 introduces SDN and greater management, which will increase the applicability of virtualization to the wider multi-service broadband network. Work is progressing well, and is expected to go to straw ballot in Q4

The group is continuing to work on the use cases for Broadband Assured Services, and progress has also been made in defining a specification for Adaptive Bit Rate in broadband networks. This will create enhanced efficiency for video and media delivery and enable carriers to offer wholesale delivery to Over-The-Top operators

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User Services Platform moves a step closer

The Broadband User Services Work Area is in the final stages of preparing its draft release of the new User Services Platform, a protocol that represents the natural evolution of TR-069 into the world of consumer electronics.

This draft will be available to the public to encourage developers to begin building prototype implementations and the group is looking to host a plug-fest on the protocol in November of 2017. This project represents a culmination of work that will also update the TR-069 protocol itself, as well as the Device:2 data model used for managing TR-069 devices

Along with the Physical Layer Transmission Work Area, the team has continued work on its Carrier Grade Wi-Fi project, investigating performance requirements and resulting test cases for Wi-Fi in the home that meets the expectations of end-users and service providers. The joint group also agreed to start new work examining video streaming requirements in the home network

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FTTdp Work Area makes significant strides

The Fiber to the Distribution Point (FTTdp) Work Area has completed work on Issue 2 of TR-301 (Architecture and Requirements for FTTdp), which simplifies network troubleshooting, software management and Distribution Point Unit (DPU) installation.  Contributions towards commencement of Issue 3 have already been received, discussing aspects such as DPU daisy-chaining, different backhaul technologies and ideas pertaining to the move towards the next generation of Gfast technologies. The FTTdp Management Project Stream continued to progress the next revision of TR-355, receiving contributions and discussions on a significant number of improvements to YANG modules for managing ultrafast broadband

• The group has continued to work in conjunction with the Common YANG Project Stream to progress aspects related to common YANG specification (TR-383), which will make significant strides in reducing management complexity for service providers looking to deploy virtualized networks.

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FAN takes the initiative on PON convergence 

YANG model projects such as WT-385 (YANG model for management of ITU-T PON) are of high interest to the community and the whole group has agreed on how to start further building Passive Optical Network (PON) related YANG models. This work will continue to benefit the service provider community as they move towards

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Landmark project to virtualize operators' PON networks for 5G Fronthaul A new project with NTT has been launched within the Forum to standardize the virtualization of operators' PON Networks to support the delivery of TCAs, such as 5G fronthaul. The project looks to open up new business opportunities for operators and vendors by using network virtualization technologies such as NFV and SDN to cost-effectively upgrade their PON networks and enable the rapid introduction of new services. This includes the key issue of fronthaul for 5G services, adding to the Forum's ongoing work on the convergence of fixed and mobile networks. "As users' usage changes, both in regard to the different services required and the amount of data coursing through fiber networks, operators need to update their PON networks, including by adding TCAs," said Akihiro Otaka, Executive Manager at NTT Access Network Service Systems Laboratories. "This used to require the remake of PON equipment for each service, but should be done via a software upgrade in the near future to improve cost-effectiveness. With demand for this increasing, it is important we ensure there are standards in place to achieve a vendor-agnostic system and ensure mass deployment of this new system architecture, which is essential if we are to deliver agile and flexible next-generation broadband networks for emerging services."  The project – PON Abstraction Interface for TCAs – looks at how NFV and SDN can be applied to Optical Line Terminals to disaggregate PON functions to functional modules with open interfaces. The first phase will define the disaggregation policy and functional requirements of interfaces to disaggregate PON functions which need time-critical processing, while the second phase will define the detailed specifications of the interfaces as Application Programming Interface (API) sets. The project has already attracted a number of new members to the Forum, as the industry becomes more focused on how the fixed network can help deliver 5G. Image Added Image AddedBASE 2018: Call for papers opens   After successfully hosting the inaugural BASE earlier this year, the Broadband Forum will be kicking off the BASE 2018 series in Athens, Greece on March 23rd and 24th. The workshop's call for speaker proposals is now open, with subjects including virtualized broadband, cloud, the managed home, 5G wireless/wireline convergence and high-speed access. The summit aims to provide attendees with a whole new perspective on what is being made available for broadband providers and users alike, delivered by the leaders in the industry, many of whom are active participants in the Forum's work. Those who are interested in applying to speak are encouraged to address the impact next-generation technologies have on broadband by highlighting use cases, technology solutions, technology trends, best practices and contributions in standards development. If you are interested in applying, please click here. To register to attend, please click here. Image Added Broadband Forum collaborates with Cartesian to address hurdles in adoption of virtualized networks As the telco industry continues to transition to software-driven cloud-based services, the Broadband Forum has provided its expertise for Cartesian's latest report, which addresses the current play of NFV, SDN and next-generation network architectures. Cartesian's report The Future of Networks: Dealing with Transformation in a Virtualized World, produced in association with the Forum, addresses the prevalent industry hurdles on the path to digital transformation, including operational challenges, an industry-wide skills gap and the cultural transformation for networks and IT departments. The report - which draws on more than 40 interviews and an online survey with more than 100 respondents, including telecom vendors, system integrators and Communication Service Providers (CSPs) – highlights that 73% of respondents believe their companies are behind schedule in their NFV/SDN deployments.  Robin Mersh, CEO of the Broadband Forum, was presented as one of the key industry decision-makers in the report, discussing the status of digital transformation and approaches to overcome the industry challenges being faced. Reflecting on the results, Mersh stated: "Whether through recruitment drives, a greater focus on standardization, or the provision of educational programs, the research shows we know where changes need to be made." For the full report, please see: https://goo.gl/w8993yImage Added Image Added Broadband Forum forms alliance with the DMTFImage Added The Broadband Forum has announced a new alliance with the DMTF, an industry standards organization with a global presence made up of members from 43 countries. Through its work on standards, the DMTF works to simplify the manageability of networks-accessible technologies through open and collaborative efforts of its expanding portfolio of member technology companies. The DMTF's Redfish® API is an open industry standard specification which aims to publish a standard API to meet customer demand for simple and secure management in modern Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) environments. Under the agreement, the Broadband Forum will have access to Redfish® manageability expertise within the DMTF and it will have the authorization to refer to the established DMTF Redfish® technologies for specifying compute and networking domain manageability of platforms. The Broadband Forum and the DMTF aim to collaborate closely wherever possible in advancing relevant interoperability standards for broadband operators to deploy cloud services and applications. For more information on what the alliance means for the industry, watch this video interview with Michael Bugenhagen, Chief Architect, NFV, at CenturyLink: https://youtu.be/8VadMp7WggsImage Added Testing gets reality check in new Broadband Forum global testing initiative During the New Orleans meeting, a new project stream was formed to specify the generation of test traffic at the application layer – a critical phase of work – to increase the level of realism of test conditions in the laboratory to better reflect actual conditions out in the field. Key industry stakeholders will benefit including service providers, vendors and laboratories, by fundamentally allowing them to manage the complex traffic of subscribers on the network. The work will be carried out within the Architecture and Migration Work Area and will involve four initial projects – architecture and requirements, definition of the associated models, an implementers' guide and a software reference implementation. "We expect this work to be immediately useful to projects like Open Broadband, as well as other work both in and outside the Broadband Forum," said Project Stream Leader and Board Member Ken Ko. "The work will allow us to formally define complex traffic behavior at the application level in a way that is unambiguous and repeatable, making it extremely valuable in a wide range of lab test scenarios." Work Area Updates from New Orleans Image Added Virtualize that: Architecture and Migration Work Area looks at NFV and SDN The Architecture and Migration Work Area has continued to work on the development of TR-359 Issue 2. Building on the momentum of the NFV-enhanced architecture foundations defined by Issue 1, Issue 2 introduces SDN and greater management and will reflect work done in the Cloud CO project. This will increase the applicability of virtualization to the wider multi-service broadband network. Work is progressing well and is expected to go to straw ballot in Q2/2018. The group is continuing to work on the use cases for Broadband Assured Services. A new project on Generation of Application Test Traffic kicked off. The goal of this project is to ultimately produce an open source traffic generation tool that will allow networking equipment manufacturers to generate aggregated traffic patterns in order to validate equipment performance under a variety of conditions, improve scheduling algorithms, etc. The project is scoped to have four key deliverables, the ultimate one being the tool itself. A study of use cases for the repurposing of existing premises infrastructure such as coax was also initiated. Image Added Broadband User Services finalizes USP changes and plans Plugfest The Broadband User Services (BUS) Work Area is finalizing recent changes to its highly anticipated User Services Platform (USP). The evolution of its flagship protocol, TR-069, is set to continue, with the release of version 1.0 expected at the end of Q1 2018. Just ahead of this release will be the first USP Plugfest, which will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, from February 20-22. Details of the Plugfest will be available soon The BUS Work Area is working in conjunction with the Physical Layer Transmission Work Area to push forward the development of real metrics for Wi-Fi performance testing. These can be used to qualify devices for service provider home deployments. This work came as a result of a perceived gap in standards from providers and is on track to provide some real value to the chaotic world of in-home networking   Image Added Common YANG project moves forward The Broadband Forum Common YANG Project made significant progress in New Orleans. The group continues to expand on the set of Common YANG models required for management of ultrafast broadband access networks based on copper and fiber technology. In particular, progress was made on managing multicast services, optical transceivers, statistics collection using IPFIX and copper line testing using SELT/MELT and loop diagnostics. This steadily solidifies the baseline set of Common YANG models that are part of TR-383 and FTTdp YANG models, defined in TR-355. In essence, it enables service providers to manage a triple play service via NETCONF/YANG In parallel, the project remains engaged with the progress made in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), with focus on two ongoing projects. The first of these is to align with the strategic direction of the new IETF Network Management Datastore Architecture (NMDA) while striving for backward compatibility through the existing approach to handle operational and state data. Secondly, there is great interest in leveraging a draft model for alarm management which aligns with the needs of Forum requirements. Finally, the group has nearly completed the Straw Ballot comment resolution for the new YANG model to manage G.hn home networks. This work is captured in WT-374 and is expected to be published by Spring 2018. Moving into the new year, the group expects to kick off an interop testing activity related to the NETCONF/YANG communication between the Persistent Management Agent (PMA) and the Distribution Point Unit (DPU). With this work, the goal is to target multi-vendor deployments that can fully leverage the key assets of NETCONF/YANG. For more on why the Common YANG Work Area is so important, watch this interview with Sven Ooghe, Product Line Manager, Fixed Networks, at Nokia: https://youtu.be/DDisz3mELgw|   Image Added NETCONF/YANG management solutions set for 2018 and beyond The second FSAN/BBF XGS-PON/NG-PON2 interoperability test session on October 9-13, 2017 was a complete success. The primary purpose of this event was to drive technology maturity through multi-vendor testing, reducing the operational and capital cost of residential and enterprise fiber access deployment for service providers. This event test report showed a significant increase in the number of test cases passed, proving the market is moving quickly to a matured state. The PON management project stream continues to expand. Anticipating deployment of new NETCONF/YANG management solutions in 2018 and beyond, the new WT-414 NetConf and YANG Interoperability Test Plans document will assist service providers in systematically validating management system implementations, accelerating their path to
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Q4 2017 Newsletter
Image Removed	Recent BBF Newsletters (PDFs) Download and share September 2017 May 2017 March 2017 November 2016 July 2016 April 2016 February 2016 November 2015 September 2015 June 2015 March 2015
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Work Area Updates from Taipei
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a more unified SDN/NFV fiber access network infrastructure. The Project Stream for

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Routing and Transport Work Area works toward 5G target

• The Routing and Transport Work Area has approved a new project defining solution architecture and equipment requirements for the EFlex technology. This innovative technology combines the ubiquity of Ethernet with the guaranteed consistency of optical network. The architecture will address the use of this technology in conventional IP/ Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) networks to realize 5G issues such as network slicing and service orchestration. The first deliverables for the project will be documents discussing the problems to be addressed, the technology approach and the market drivers for the technology
• The latest work on the Broadband mobile backhaul architecture is on track for final approval out of the Q2 meeting. The group has incorporated all input, including synchronization from our esteemed colleague at ITU-T Study Group 15. There are some final issues to discuss, which should be addressed before the Q3 meeting
• The evolution to 5G will be in phases and the transport for 5G network will be no exception.  The TR-221 MPLS in Mobile Backhaul architecture sets the stage for initial 5G architectures by establishing the time/synchronization, scalability and resiliency a 5G network will depend on. The group continues to explore how to transform transport and IP networks to efficiently support 5G and the innovative services brought about by 2020 mobile networks. These new services, through the development of new applications that they enable, generate new revenues both for the provider and their customers
• The last of the updates to the Ethernet Virtual Private Network (EVPN) architecture and requirements (TR-350) Phase 2 have been completed and the work is entering the approval stage. The latest work focuses on point-to-point and point-to-multipoint service implementation. The work continues to be done virtually (via the wiki and conference calls) to allow broader, more expedient participation. The document will be sent for final comment and should be published in late Q3 or early Q4
• TR-350 Phase 2 architects the Metro Ethernet Forum Carrier Ethernet service definitions for both E-LINE and E-TREE, and the architecture and requirements are based on the latest Internet Engineering Task Force specifications for EVPN. This work makes the Ethernet services network more efficient and resilient, thereby supporting services for new and demanding applications while potentially reducing expense. The services provided by the architectures are used for network management, video distribution and big data connectivity
• For more detail please see the EVPN white paper available on the BBF website here

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Physical Layer Transmission Work Area focuses on Gfast 

• Much of the Physical Layer Transmission Work Area’s time was spent on Gfast-related projects. The Gfast Testing and Certification Project Stream finalized addressing issues in ID-337, raised from the beta trial program. It’s expected that the internal report (IR-337) will go for final ballot by the end of June 2017 and its associated abstract test plan (ATP-337) will be prepared for publication

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Heads in the Cloud (CO) for SDN and NFV Group

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It’s all 5G for Wireline-Wireless Convergence Work Area

•  The Wireline-Wireless Convergence (WWC) Work Area addressed 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
• Building on the joint Broadband Forum workshop with 3GPP in February, WWC initiated two study documents:  SD-406 on network slicing and SD-407 on 5G fixed mobile convergence. The project team considered many contributions on the subject in Taipei and made significant progress towards driving a common understanding of the common architecture and many of the issues to be addressed. This work will continue to be aggressively pursued with conference calls and online collaboration tools with a goal to align with 3GPP’s 5G schedule

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SDN and NFV Work Area send first Cloud-based Central Office Technical Report to final ballot The overriding framework Cloud Central Office project (CloudCO) document, WT-384, has completed Straw Ballot and has been progressed to Final Ballot as a result of this meeting. The group spent some significant time reviewing the results of the service provider survey, which was authored at the previous meeting, in order to gain insight into the specific migration use case scenarios.

These results will help guide the future development of methods by which legacy broadband networks may gradually migrate to a CloudCO and support coexistence within the same network. There was also good discussion around the related working text and the addition of some use cases was agreed. The Work Area also continued its activities on its other deliverables, including Migration to SDN-enabled Management and Control, CloudCO Interfaces and Test Cases for CloudCO Applications. The first issue of Fixed Access Network Sharing (FANS) is now approved and published as TR-370. This important work provides the framework for the sharing of physical infrastructure between Virtual Network Operators (VNOs) and gives them the possibility to manage the equipment as if it were their own. Beginning in 2018, we will be driving forward the completion of our work program for CloudCO with WT-408 (CloudCO Migration), WT-411 (CloudCO Interfaces), WT-412 (CloudCO Testing), WT-413 (Migration to SDN enabled management and control) & WT-416 (CloudCO Scenarios & Use Cases). We will also complete the FANS suite with WT-386 (FANS Interfaces) – which was featured in a recent report by Ovum researchers. The Open Broadband – Broadband Access Abstraction (OB-BAA) project should also be full steam ahead. This project will be open to external contributors, and separately organized to the Forum's Technical Committee, but is still linked to the work of the CloudCO project.

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5G Front and center for Wireline-Wireless Convergence Work Area The Wireline-Wireless Convergence (WWC) 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.

Image AddedStudy work on 5G fixed access continued throughout the Q4 meeting, with a focus on the integration model and deployment considerations with respect to existing networks. This will be used to assist both 3GPP and the Broadband Forum to develop normative specifications in the release 16 timeframe. The first recommendations with respect to architecture, protocols and procedures will be completed in the Q1 timeframe. Study work on network slicing continues as the group develops a deeper appreciation of the impact of this 5G-centric topic on fixed and transport networks. Work on WT-378 nodal requirements for hybrid access was nearing completion, with the document expected to go to straw ballot in Q1.

 New Broadband Forum tools delivering increased agility and faster working

The Forum's way of working has shifted to fast interactive discussions through the Atlassian Tools: the BBF Wiki, JIRA, Confluence and Bitbucket.

All new contributions are now posted  to JIRA - see the link below

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Questions? Contact April Nowicki, Member Support Manager anowicki@broadband-forum.org|

• WT-177 Corrigendum 1 IPv6 in the context of TR-101 (TR-177 Corrigendum 1)
• WT-156 Issue 4 Using GPON Access in the context of TR-101 (TR-156 Issue 4)
• WT-355 Corrigendum 2 YANG Modules for FTTdp Management (TR-355 Corrigendum 2)

WT-370 Fixed Access Network Sharing - Architecture and Nodal Requirements (TR-370)
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.