In an industry environment where operators are looking to launch new, competitive ultrafast services and vendors are evolving to meet an ever-changing customer base, the need for a defined set of standards for Fibre to the Distribution Point (FTTdp) has never been greater.
Following quickly on from the groundbreaking TR-317 specifications for the virtual Residential Gateway and an updated Intellectual Property (IP) Policy, the release of TR-355 forms an important part of the Broadband Forum’s work as it looks to keep pace with the rapid and continual evolution of the networking industry.
Unique opportunities
TR-355’s goal is to bring Service Providers a step closer to reaching the promise of optical fibre speeds and applications, without them needing to fully upgrade or virtualise their infrastructures, says Robin Mersh, CEO, Broadband Forum.
The introduction of fibre-fed nodes (DPUs) to the periphery of networks has opened the door for agile, ultrafast broadband services and provided further stimulus for developing technologies such as G.fast. With this in mind, there is an emerging market demand of the use of YANG specifications – which would avoid the issues created by taking legacy management implementations into next-generation products – creating a unique opportunity to introduce a new network management paradigm.
The benefit of a data modeling language such as YANG is that it allows interfaces to be defined in a very detailed and rigorous way, which can greatly improve interoperability between implementations from different manufacturers.
For over a decade, the Broadband Forum has used its own data modeling language for defining the TR-069 data models that are primarily used for managing customer premises equipment, but the new projects for defining YANG data models extend the Forum’s rigorous data modeling into new areas that will impact many aspects of the industry.
The FTTdp YANG management model is the Forum’s first software deliverable written in the YANG modelling language, but it certainly won’t be the last. By using YANG, the work that has been done can be leveraged beyond pure DPU and benefit the work of the Broadband Forum as a whole through the Common YANG Project Stream.
By moving to YANG modeling, the Forum is addressing operators’ needs for the interoperability of management protocols and network programming in an increasingly virtualised environment.
A new outlook
That’s not to say that there weren’t a host of challenges when it came to getting TR-355 to the point of release. With so much of what the standard encompasses being totally new to the Forum, the biggest initial hurdle was building up the knowledge needed and getting people used to the modelling paradigm and software publication methods. Fortunately – thanks to some great knowledge sharing and tutorials in the Common YANG Project Stream – we were able to quickly close the knowledge gap.
TR-355 was also the first to follow the Forum’s new IP Policy. As the industry continues to change and evolve at rapid pace, standards development organisations like the Broadband Forum have to move even quicker. With that in mind, the updated policy enables the key players to have access to software code alongside the traditional licensing specifications, streamlining the software licensing process as a whole and accelerating time to market for vendors.
TR-355 epitomises this new outlook, with all seven YANG data model software specifications that make up the specification being made publicly available via GitHub.
Collaboration is king
The industry in general is at a bit of a crossroads in terms of the different activities being pursued, and the need to have a defined point of interoperability made the interworking we have had for the development of TR-355 crucial. Thanks to the FTTdp Work Area, the Forum has been able to work closely with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and has become something of a centre for expertise for YANG specifications relating to broadband networks. This can only be a good thing for the industry as we look to progress further and drive re-use of the modules being developed in other areas such as FTTH.
TR-355 is not only the key that can open the door for operators to provide ultrafast broadband services and a stimulus for developing technologies such as G.fast, but also a flagship for the benefits of collaboration and innovation.
The author of this blog is Robin Mersh, CEO, Broadband Forum
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