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A welcome from our CEO


Craig Thomas, BBF Director of Strategic Marketing

Our Spring Member Meeting saw our biggest attendance in more than 15 years, drawing 158 attendees to Mainz, Germany. We have enjoyed a very productive meeting, and continue to build on the success of 2023, with 16 new work area projects started and two new Open Broadband projects launched since our last meeting.

In Mainz, the home to the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press and no stranger to ground-breaking tech innovation, we opened the meeting with discussions on the latest significant breakthrough in tech history. Bringing together technology innovators from across the industry, our Town Hall Innovation Series explored the growing role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in broadband networks. The BASe Technical and USP Summits took place in tandem with our member meeting and was highly attended with a host of engaging plenary sessions, roundtables, and video demonstrations. The three events amassed a total of 243 registered attendees across five days.

Thank you to all of our work area directors, project stream leaders, editors, and contributors for their continuous dedication in building universally adopted open standards and open-source software. Talking with many of the attendees, there was real energy and enthusiasm surrounding the ongoing work and direction of the Broadband Forum.  

We also recognized those individuals whose service and leadership are significantly helping drive our vision of intelligent, services-led networks that prioritize user experience. Congratulations to our Distinguished Fellow, Circle of Excellence, and Outstanding Contributor award winners.

We look forward to seeing you again in Incheon, South Korea, on June 17-20. 

-Craig Thomas, CEO, Broadband Forum

Previous Newsletters




Thank you to our Meeting Sponsor!

Manuel Paul, Squad Lead Network Convergence at Deutsche Telekom and President at Broadband Forum delivered a keynote presentation highlighting the importance of personalized and context-aware services and networks that adapt to customers’ future needs.

Paul talked about the need for standardization in the industry to respond to market demands of a fast-moving technical world, advised that agility and speed should not come at the cost of quality, and vocalized the importance of deployable standards. Collaboration between Standards Development Organizations was underscored as a key factor in achieving this and striking the perfect synergy between open-source software and open standards. He also talked about Deutsche Telekom’s focus to enable a better digital life for customers, the benefits of increasingly virtualized networks and cloud-based services, as well as the role that disaggregation is playing in making this all possible.

“Reliability and great customer experience is key, and the DT brand has connotations of great customer trust,” Paul stated. “Our customer complaints have shrunk by 90% over the past ten years and we remain committed in turning our customers into our fans.”

On helping develop standards within Broadband Forum, Paul said: “It is an honor to collaborate with this esteemed community of industry leaders and experts. On behalf of Deutsche Telekom, thank you for the opportunity to play our part.”

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Work Area Updates

For a full list of all Technical Reports published by 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 access to Broadband Forum tools and access your account using your company email address.

ATA rounds off successful quarter with IPv6 security project and new open broadband project launched 

The Access & Transport Architecture (ATA) Work Area delivers scalable, dynamic, and flexible architectures to support highly resilient connectivity for the next-generation of responsive services and applications. ATA’s focus includes specifying frameworks and real-time tools to deliver predictive connectivity and service performance. Read the full Spring Meeting 2024 update here: https://www.broadband-forum.org/ata-rounds-off-successful-quarter-with-ipv6-security-project-and-new-open-broadband-projects-launched

Smart home activities grow in BUS; latest updates of TR-181 and TR-398 published


The Broadband User Services Work Area aims to explore the necessary work for delivering an operator-grade smart home and improving the subscriber experience. Read the full Spring Meeting 2024 update here: https://www.broadband-forum.org/smart-home-activities-grow-in-bus-latest-updates-of-tr-181-and-tr-398-published


Common YANG’s latest work shaping the future of NETCONF/YANG-managed access networks 

The work area targets to 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. Read the full Spring Meeting 2024 update here: https://www.broadband-forum.org/common-yangs-latest-work-shaping-the-future-of-netconf-yang-managed-access-networks


FAN collaborates with other Work Areas to progress new standards; officially launches sustainability project

 

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 PON conformance and interoperability, and compliance test plans related to XGS-PON, NG-PON2, 25GS, 50G-PON, and Physical Medium Dependent (PMD)/Transmission Convergence (TC) Layer. Lastly, it is responsible for PON YANG data model specifications. Read the full Spring Meeting 2024 update here: https://www.broadband-forum.org/fan-collaborates-with-other-work-areas-to-progress-new-standards-officially-launches-sustainability-project

PHYtx Work Area starts the third issue of TR-301 and continues efforts of the MoCA AccessTM Performance Test Plan

The Physical Layer Transmission Work Area aims to enable multi-vendor interoperability in deployments for both access and in-premises networks. Read the full Spring Meeting 2024 update here: https://www.broadband-forum.org/phytx-work-area-starts-the-third-issue-of-tr-301-and-continues-efforts-of-the-moca-accesstm-performance-test-plan


Two key documents on AIM and disaggregation published, with more specifications close to fruition for SDN/NFV

The SDN/NFV Work Area focuses on the introduction of Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) in conjunction with general purpose hardware to create the basis for cloud-based, edge, and access networks. Read the full Spring Meeting 2024 update here: https://www.broadband-forum.org/two-key-documents-on-aim-and-disaggregation-published-with-more-specifications-close-to-fruition-for-sdn-nfv




WWC continues Multi-tenant FWA efforts and Phase 18.1 work, IMS for 5G-RG and WWC CUPS specifications published 

The work area aims to deliver more value with deployment options for integrated, wireline, and mobile operators and suppliers. It focuses on optimizing the Total Cost of Ownership by consolidating network, common control plane, and streamlined backend by a comprehensive, well-specified, deployed Wireless-Wireline-Convergence architecture and functions to deliver broadband services with the 5G Core. Read the full Spring Meeting 2024 update here: https://www.broadband-forum.org/wwc-continues-multi-tenant-fwa-efforts-and-phase-18-1-work-ims-for-5g-rg-and-wwc-cups-specifications-published



 

OB-CAS project to stimulate open innovation for the broadband industry; calls for involvement of application providers in data analytics and network automation software

The OB-CloudCO Application Software Development Kit (OB-CAS) project is set to create a network management application ecosystem for the broadband industry. The project will develop an open platform software environment to foster open innovation. Read the full Spring Meeting 2024 update here: https://www.broadband-forum.org/ob-cas-project-to-stimulate-open-innovation-for-the-broadband-industry-calls-for-involvement-of-application-providers-in-data-analytics-and-network-automation-software

The OB-STAMP project launches - a gamechanger for network monitoring

The OB-STAMP (Open Broadband – Simple Two-Way Active Measurement Protocol) tool aims to reduce the cost and time of deploying and implementing infrastructure for measuring network latency in service providers’ networks. Read the full Spring Meeting 2024 update here: https://www.broadband-forum.org/the-ob-stamp-project-launches-a-gamechanger-for-network-monitoring

OB-USP-Agent closes in on Heron release; will help ISPs roll out value-added services

The OB-USP-Agent (OBUSPA) project is focused on creating a reference implementation of the User Services Platform (USP) specification from an "Agent" perspective. It aims to help ISPs offer differentiated value-added services at a faster pace, allowing individual components of the network to be upgraded without the need to upgrade the whole firmware. Read the full Spring Meeting 2024 update here: https://www.broadband-forum.org/ob-usp-agent-closes-in-on-heron-release-will-help-isps-roll-out-value-added-services

OB-UDPST project team collaborates with a network operator regarding large-scale rollout

The Open Broadband-User Datagram Protocol Speed Test (OB-UDPST) project produces an open source implementation of a tool to perform IP layer capacity metrics and measurement. Read the full Spring Meeting 2024 update here: https://www.broadband-forum.org/ob-udpst-project-team-collaborates-with-a-network-operator-regarding-large-scale-rollout

OB-5WWC Project Team’s 5G-RG software architecture open for comments 

Open Broadband-5WWC (OB-5WWC) is an Open Source project focused on bringing the full benefits of the 5G ecosystem to fixed-line services and offering a full end-to-end solution to operators. The aim is to create a reference implementation of the Broadband Forum specified Wireless-Wireline Convergence solution for 5G capable Residential Gateways (5G-RGs), providing shorter time-to-market for products and reduced development times and cycles. Read the full Spring Meeting 2024 update here: https://www.broadband-forum.org/ob-5wwc-project-teams-5g-rg-software-architecture-open-for-comments


For more on the work of The Broadband Forum’s Work Areas, please visit the wiki here: https://wiki.broadband-forum.org/display/BBF/BBF+Work+in+Progress+-+Projects%2C+Project+Streams%2C+and+Jira+Links

Upcoming BASe events

Save the dates! Broadband Forum face-to-face 2024 meetings


Welcome to our new and returning members! 

We welcomed a mix of new members and guest companies during the Spring Member Meeting 2024. We had 158 registered attendees, with 12 first-time attendees and 16 guests from 12 companies. Our new members include: Alethea, Evolution Digital, Go Fiber, Positron Access Solutions, Sichuan Changhong NeoNet Technologies Co., Ltd., Tadtelmax, and Veego.

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. 


Contact information

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








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