The Broadband Forum has outlined a new “20/20” vision to enable important new service provider revenue streams and transform personal and business communications by leveraging the latest technologies, including NFV, SDN, ultra-fast access, IoT, and 5G.
“Of course, all service providers are very focused on profitable revenue-generating services but this is the first time this or any forum has come together as a community to take a holistic approach to new technologies and have them deliver real value,” said Robin Mersh, CEO of the Broadband Forum. “We are very proud of what the Forum has already achieved in its 24-year history in making broadband what it is today, but now we have embarked on a new challenge, a new opportunity and in fact the chance to create a whole new world of communications.”
The top five areas of innovation identified and enabled by Broadband 20/20 are ultra-fast infrastructure, intelligent home/small business, seamless converged wireline and wireless
networks, performance-assured on-demand IP broadband services and a personalized network experience.
To advance these goals, the Broadband Forum has undergone a major restructure into eight work areas with a new culture of rapid technicald evelopment so as to incrementally deliver technical specifications, architecture, management, software data models, APIs, interoperability tests, etc., around which the industry can evolve.
“The pace of change in telecommunications never slackens – it always increases – and this new focus for the Forum will support the industry in not only matching that pace but to do it by creating important new revenue streams at the same time,” said Mersh.
