Developing and deploying a laboratory infrastructure to support testing 5G and open radio-access network (Open RAN) systems can present a daunting and complex task. Prior to Open RAN, this task was only possible by engaging directly with the large network system vendors. Since then, several open-source projects and organizations have developed materials based on 3GPP and O-RAN Alliance specifications. Those tools and resources make it possible to create a complete 5G deployment, spanning from the mobile core to RAN, providing...
DSL News Articles
Broadband Forum launches open source USP Agent, fast-tracking connected home interoperability in the IoT age
March 29, 2019
FREMONT, Calif., March 28, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Broadband Forum today announced it will provide an open source USP Agent implementation as it continues to evolve its User Services Platform (USP) to facilitate tomorrow's Connected Home and accelerate interoperable Internet of Things (IoT) deployments.
Created as part of Broadband Forum's Open Broadband initiative, the Open Broadband – USP Agent (OB-USP-Agent) project will provide vendors with a code base that they can...
Gfast, Now With More Fiber
February 21, 2019
While Gfast updates won't actually help your dietary needs, they do push the service offerings into alignment with those of a fiber-only connection. From a service provider view, this simplifies operational processes, since providers need only maintain a single set of service profiles for their customers to purchase.
Put another way, it wouldn't matter if a customer has a fiber only connection or a fiber connection extended by a Gfast connection: The user experience is the same.
That's...
Gfast Is Fast, and Will Be Even Faster Soon
September 28, 2017
The Broadband Forum has said that the number of certified Gfast products has increased from seven to 24 in the three months since certification began. The BBF said that ADRAN, EXFO and Viavi have had passed the certification process, which is being conducted by the University of New Hampshire’s InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL).
The BBF heralds the news as a sign that the Gfast mass market has arrived. Whether that is true or not cannot yet be said...
Gfast Products Certified by UNH-IOL
June 28, 2017
One of the under reported but significant stories of the broadband era is the success of the telephone industry’s digital subscriber line (DSL) program. DSL aims to enable telcos to keep pace with cable modems and other delivery methods using innovative techniques to push their legacy copper infrastructure ever further. It is working.
It is not unlike the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE) similarly successful 802.11 Wi-Fi program. Different types of DSL subgroups are aimed at...
Best Practices for G.fast System Testing
December 5, 2016
G.fast is a new copper broadband technology that enables throughput of better than 1 Gb/s over a single twisted pair. The technology is based on a signal modulation scheme very similar to the DMT modulation used in VDSL2, with one notable exception, G.fast transceivers utilize time-division duplexing instead of the frequency-division duplexing used in VDSL2.
G.fast also borrows many other advances from VDSL2, including seamless rate adaption (SRA), bit swapping, retransmission, dying gasp, and vectoring. In addition, G.fast includes...
UNH-IOL to conduct G.fast technology chipset interop at Broadband World Forum
October 14, 2016
The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) will host a multi-vendor G.fast interoperability demonstration with six vendors during next week’s Broadband World Forum (BBWF) in London with an aim to accelerate network rollouts and service delivery.
Calix, Digital Lightwave, Huawei, Metanoia Communications, Technicolor and Telebyte are among the vendors taking part in the demonstration.
During the event, UNH-IOL’s demo will show cross-chipset interoperability among solutions from multiple demarcation point unit (DPU) and customer premises equipment (CPE) vendors,...
UNH-IOL plans G.fast interoperability demo at 2016 Broadband World Forum
October 14, 2016
The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) says it will take its interop capabilities on the road to London next week to host a multi-vendor G.fast interoperability demonstration within the Broadband Forum Interoperability Pavilion at the Broadband World Forum (BBWF), October 18-20. The demonstration aims to display interoperability among products from six companies based on chipsets from three different providers.
The UNH-IOL say it also will have the time to show live testing during the demo based upon...
Getting IPv6 to Play Nice
February 4, 2016
With the Internet of Things (IoT) gaining traction, as evidenced by the technologies displayed at CES 2016, IPv6 traffic will continue rising. IPv4 addresses have been depleted, so the explosion of IoT devices (Gartner estimates 6.4 billion things will be online worldwide this year) is dependent on the IPv6 address inventory.
Service providers are planning on going to native IPv6 vs. continuing to use a carrier grade network address translation (NAT). But just because they deploy IPv6 to a...
Broadband expert hails 'economical solution' to delivering faster speeds
November 5, 2015
The new broadband technology being championed by BT is a cost-effective way of delivering fast internet speeds, an expert has said. Lincoln Lavoie said fibre broadband is a futureproof long-term solution but comes “at a huge cost”. He said G.fast, which uses a combination of fibre cables and existing copper wires, is a “great solution” that can make the most of the UK’s current infrastructure.
G.fast is currently being trialled by BT customers in Gosforth, Newcastle, and Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire,...