The Broadband Forum has kicked off the G.fast Council, a new group focused on facilitating rapid deployment of G.fast implementations in service provider networks.
G.fast is a broadband access technology that deploys faster bandwidth speeds by extending fiber to existing copper wiring infrastructure. The G.fast Council will inform the market through events, white papers, use cases and other resources.
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The G.fast Council will represent the Broadband Forum and the G.fast community Broadband Forum and at industry events such as this week’s TNO Ultrafast broadband event in The Hague.
G.fast is just one of two broadband technology-focused groups the Broadband Forum has created. Earlier this year, the Broadband Forum established the NG-PON2 Council.
“Consumers want ultrafast broadband speeds and they want them immediately. In many cases, G.fast offers service providers the best chance to meet this requirement,” said Robin Mersh, CEO of the Broadband Forum, in a release. “The Council will be the center of expertise in G.fast and as such will work to show how G.fast fits into the bigger gigabit broadband picture covered by the Forum’s work.”
An additional mission of the G.fast Council will be to promote the G.fast Certification program, which has announced the first interoperable products, with the aim of helping accelerate the availability of interoperable solutions and expedite timely integration with service providers’ networks.
The Broadband Forum today announced the first six products to have successfully completed the G.fast certification program from the Forum and the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL).
Arris, Calix, Huawei, Metanoia, Nokia and Technicolor worked with the Broadband Forum and UNH-IOL to achieve the G.fast Device Certification. Additionally, the UNH-IOL made the G.fast test automation software commercially available, which controls the Telebyte test and measurement equipment, enabling device manufacturers to easily pre-test in their own labs and service providers to easily regression test software updates from their suppliers.
The G.fast certification—which is carried out by the Broadband Forum’s approved G.fast test laboratory at the UNH-IOL—complies with the Forum’s IR-337 certification test specification, reducing costs and accelerating time-to-revenue.
UNH-IOL has made the G.fast test automation software commercially available, which controls the Telebyte test and measurement equipment, enabling device manufacturers to easily pre-test in their own labs and service providers to easily regression test software updates from their suppliers.