Future of FMC Highlights Agenda of Broadband Forum's First Meeting

(Business News & Technology News, 18 Sep 2008)

The future of Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC), the role of Internet Protocol (IP) v6, fibre architecture work and the successful deployment of IPTV over DSL were topics high on the agenda at the very first meeting of the Broadband Forum, formerly the DSL Forum.

Held in Stockholm, Sweden, the meeting got underway with an interactive panel entitled, "Driving a Converged Broadband Network". The session included a panel discussion between 3GPP, the WiMAX Forum, the Broadband Forum and Ericsson—the first time these three key industry consortiums had met to debate the future of FMC and how they can work together, utilising the expertise of each group to achieve their aims, which include driving common management and architecture specifications to support the growth of wireless broadband network options and provisioning and remote management of mobile broadband services and devices.

"FMC has a new meaning in the Internet age," explains Max Riegel, Co-Chair of the Networking Working Group of the WiMAX Forum. "Enabling operators to complement their fixed broadband network with a wireless technology like Mobile WiMAX means they can provide nomadic, portable and mobile access to the Internet and IP services."

Stephen Hayes, Chairman, 3GPP Systems Group (3GPP-SA) continues, "The Broadband Forum is leading the way in standards for fixed broadband and 3GPP is leading the way in standards for mobile broadband. Collaboration between the two organizations is a natural and necessary step in ensuring that users can get the same services over both fixed and mobile accesses."

The Forum's meeting also included a powerful keynote speech by Regina Donato Lundgren, Vice President and Head of IP Production at TeliaSonera. Responsible for the development lifecycle, network planning, build out and operations of the company's IP networks across Europe, Regina confirmed TeliaSonera's commitment to working alongside the Broadband Forum in the development of broadband standards.

"TeliaSonera has great expectations of the Broadband Forum, which includes working together to ensure quality assurance, reliability and service management standards are met," says Lundgren.

Although this meeting of the newly named Forum concentrated very much on new, emerging and converging technologies, work with DSL continues. A recent report from industry analysts Point Topic, showed that DSL remains the most popular access technology, with over 65 percent of the market share and nearly 9 million additional subscribers added in the last quarter alone. Fiber installations also increased by nearly 7 percent over the last three months.

The recent global economic downturn has seen more service providers focusing on utilizing and expanding existing DSL networks, delaying the installation of planned fibre systems. As such, the Broadband Forum's work around ADSL2/2plus and VDSL2 is as important as its work with FMC and other emerging technologies. This was demonstrated in the approval of Technical Report 176 (TR-176) "ADSL2plus Profiles for IPTV".

Helping providers ensure Quality of Experience (QoE) and Quality of Service (QoS) for IPTV services, this report contains best practices and recommended ADSL2plus profile parameter settings for use in the deployment of IPTV over ADSL2plus. The parameter values were derived from the experiences of service providers and vendors who have already tested, trialled and/or deployed IPTV over ADSL2plus and hence represent current industry best practice.

"Our work continues to evolve as the industry around us changes. Our main priority is to provide workable network, access and management solutions and standards that answer real world problems," explains George Dobrowski, Broadband Forum Chairman and President. "Our next big challenge, FMC is driving a lot of new work and industry collaboration, and we will do our part to ensure wireline providers are equipped for this next wave of broadband expansion."

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