Eight vendors make TIP group’s OpenBNG RFI shortlist

The Telecom Infra Project (TIP) today announced that the newly formed Fixed Broadband (FiBr) Project Group has released the results of the multi-operator Open Broadband Network Gateway (OpenBNG) focused RFI.

The RFI, jointly conducted by BT, Deutsche Telekom, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, and Vodafone, has shortlisted eight technology suppliers, whose solutions meet the requirements set out by the operators: software providers Benu Networks, Capgemini Engineering, Casa Systems, and RtBrick as well as hardware manufacturers APS Networks, Delta, Edge-Core, and UfiSpace.

The five operators now plan to publish their detailed technical requirements to the Project Group. Starting early in the new year, suppliers will be eligible to submit products that meet those requirements to be listed on TIP Exchange with the Requirements Compliant ribbon. Meanwhile, the operators and the suppliers on the RFI shortlist will now begin planning for test and validation activities due to begin in the first half of 2022, which will eventually see supplier products being awarded TIP test and validation badges.

Demand for fast, reliable, low-latency fixed broadband services around the world is growing, placing pressure on service providers to continue investing in network upgrades and expansion. With CapEx in many markets projected to outpace revenue growth in the coming years, the industry needs more solutions that enable a variety of use cases and business models, reduce the total cost of ownership of networks and drive further innovation.

The OpenBNG initiative is helping to address this gap in the market by developing modern and secure technologies based on open and standardised interfaces. These new technologies will be provided by a wide range of suppliers, improving supply chain diversity and unlocking new business opportunities across both fixed-line and wireless value chains.

“We are happy to be a member of the new Fixed Broadband Project Group and are thankful for being shortlisted as technology supplier for our Intel-based secure, open, flexible and cost-effective OpenBNG solutions. We are committed to further contributing towards the FiBr objectives of promoting modern and secure technologies, which are based on open and standardized interfaces for fixed line networks, enabling operators to benefit from a diverse supply chain that provides real alternatives right down to the chip level“, said Alexander Jeffries, CEO APS Networks.

“We are thrilled to have the Benu SD-Edge platform shortlisted by this auspicious group of service providers,” said Juan Luis Esteban, VP Solutions Architecture of Benu Networks. “Behind every 5G mobile connection is a wireline network, and Benu is proud to offer our service provider customers an agile, open edge solution that unlocks innovation while simultaneously lowering TCO. The TIP OpenBNG initiative is a significant example of industry consensus around taking a new approach, to which Benu is fully aligned and is supporting a variety of deployment options with servers and switches.”

“Capgemini Engineering has been part of TIP since inception, and has been an active partner in multiple TIP project groups. TIP projects have catalyzed innovation and mass-market adoption of best-in-class technologies. We are excited to collaborate with TIP on solving some of the most important challenges that the industry faces as they build out their next-generation network solutions for disaggregated networks,” said Rajat Kapoor, vice president of software frameworks and solutions, Capgemini Engineering. “TIP Fixed Broadband (FiBr) is very timely and we are excited about the role Capgemini’s innovative OLT and BNG solutions can play in accelerating Broadband adoption worldwide. It will enable operators to converge their networks with the opportunity provided by 5G and the OpenRAN thrust,” he added.

We are honored to be shortlisted as a Software vendor for OpenBNG. We would like to thank the TIP OpenBNG group for their industry leadership in pushing for dis-aggregated BNG architecture. We look forward to further engagements to take the technology to deployment and enable operators to benefit from the cost savings and deployment flexibility that OpenBNG promises”, said Gibson Ang, VP of Technology, Casa Systems.

“Delta is proud to join the TIP OpenBNG journey and come up with the first OpenBNG platforms matching the actual Telco needs, both backward compatible and future proof”, said Winnie Lin, R&D Director, Delta Electronics Inc.

“At Edgecore Networks, we are excited to offer our hardened carrier routing platforms optimized for the BNG use cases. We believe the service provider industry will benefit from an open disaggregated business model, which increases the control and choice operators have when constructing their future networks. This new business model in turn leads to improvements in the service providers’ TCO and allows them to tailor higher value services for their end customers” said Heimdall Siao, President of Edgecore Networks.

“The OpenBNG initiative is a really important move for the telco industry,” said Pravin S Bhandarkar, founder and chief executive officer at RtBrick. “Our customers want to build a new generation of ‘cloud-native’ telco networks, with open programmable interfaces, and deliver services on disaggregated software and hardware, which is what the TIP members have defined in the Open BNG RFI. The new Fixed Broadband Project Group will have an important role to play in sharing this approach across the rest of the industry.”

“TIP has been a major influence by empowering service providers with open disaggregated architectures and UfiSpace is happy to provide our support to the TIP community,” says Vincent Ho, CEO of UfiSpace. “We are humbled to be shortlisted as a supplier and we are ready to enable service providers with our flexible, versatile and cost efficient OpenBNG router solutions.” CT Bureau