Partnership targets 5G, network slicing and wireless-wireline convergence
From mid-2019, the lab will host test campaigns for vendor and Communications Service Provider (CSP) members of the Broadband Forum. All parties will be able to validate multi-vendor interoperability of their virtualized systems and broadband access infrastructure aligning with Broadband Forum standards on full Network Function Virtualization (NFV) infrastructures.
Operators have also given their support to the lab, with Bruno Cornaglia, Fixed Access Senior Manager at Vodafone Group, saying: “We welcome the establishment of this new laboratory which is a significant step towards establishing interoperability for virtualization techniques such as SDN and NFV, addressing use cases such as Fixed Access Network Sharing (FANS).”
Within the partnership, Broadband Forum maintains the Open Broadband Infrastructure (OB-I) architecture and publishes a multitude of use cases for innovation to be tested against. VMware has provided and installed the virtualization platform, while EANTC organizes and hosts test campaigns, and will provide ongoing expertise.
The partnership and formation of the Open Broadband Lab Europe (OBLE) further develops Broadband Forum’s Open Broadband initiative, with the laboratory in Europe following the establishment of OBLA in Beijing in collaboration with SDN/NFV Industry Alliance in May 2017.
Open Broadband aims to create an open framework for cloud-based broadband, while the Open Broadband Labs provide a collective resource for the testing, staging and integration of broadband related services and applications, including standards-based, open source and commercial software, giving suppliers and operators the opportunity to work alongside each other in developing new and co-existing systems.
“This partnership takes our Open Broadband initiative to the next level and will help operators migrate to next-generation networks and architectures, including 5G and CloudCO, that are capable of meeting rising consumer demand for more bandwidth, better and more agile broadband and the introduction of innovative new services,” said Broadband Forum CEO Robin Mersh.
The new OBLE adds to Broadband Forum’s ongoing and completed projects in this area, including Cloud Central Office (CloudCO), Fixed Access Network Sharing (FANS) and PON for Time Critical Applications. Spanning hybrid cloud to edge computing, VMware’s consistent infrastructure, consistent operations and OpenStack support empowers CSPs to digitally transform from ‘connectivity providers’ to agile sources of rich 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) services and dynamic content.
“Open standards and open interfaces, combined with a vendor-independent NFV infrastructure, are essential for operators looking for a cost-effective and smooth migration to next-generation architectures, and this initiative will play a key role in developing these standards and interfaces,” said Yves Hertoghs, Product Stream Leader for Broadband Forum’s CloudCO project and Principal Systems Engineer at VMware.
For EANTC, an internationally-recognized objective test center, the partnership will build on its existing work around interoperability and performance testing for network technologies and applications.
The lab follows another development in the Broadband Forum, with a series of recently-published CloudCO Application Notes – which define a number of operator use cases – representing a significant step forward in Software Defined Access (SDA) and acting as a blueprint for tests to be performed in the labs.
Focusing on High Speed Internet Access (HSIA) Service, the Network Enhanced Residential Gateway (NERG) Service Initialization, Fixed Access Network Sharing (FANS) and Access Devices, the six Application Notes are designed to help operators drive and test requirements for next-generation SDA.
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