Open Source and Open Broadband Standards Offer the Ingredients for Success

The Broadband Forum accelerates open-source development to meet evolving user and industry demands.

Broadband Service Providers (BSPs) are increasingly prioritizing a richer, more tailored broadband experience for the end-user, recognizing that fast speeds alone are no longer the key differentiator. With this important consideration in mind, the Broadband Forum recently realigned its work areas.¹ The changes ensure that every new project and specification focuses on enabling services-led and intelligent broadband that provides the applications and services most demanded by users.

As part of this, the Forum’s open broadband standards are continually refined to help define lasting, normative descriptions and the requirements of the systems, interfaces or Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Standards help the industry align on common architecture and future migration approaches, and lay out a uniform set of rules and design principles to adhere to. Alongside this, open-source software initiatives help underpin the universal success of real-world deployments.

Updated Restructure for an Updated Shift

As part of the realignment, the intention was to streamline the organization, making it easier for its members to engage in its standards work and help deliver an improved broadband user experience.

The five work areas cover access networks, connected users and subscriber networks, network architecture, cloud and autonomous networks, and service requirements. They are supported by an advisory group providing the necessary expertise to produce high-quality YANG data models and management specifications spanning multiple work areas.

Broadband Forum’s current work areas are:

• Access Work Area — The group focuses on delivering multi-vendor interoperability for last mile broadband deployments across fiber, copper and wireless networks.
• Connected User Work Area — Develops specifications for the deployment, management and consumption of services by the end-users.
• Network Architecture Work Area — Develops the architecture and nodal requirements for end-to-end broadband deployments across traditional and converged networks to ensure the best possible quality of experience for users.
• Provider Cloud Work Area — Defines frameworks and specifications to enable broadband services and networks to utilize cloud-based deployment approaches, including automation leveraging machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI).
• Service Requirements Work Area — Defines user-centric, normative requirements and specifications for services utilizing BSPs’ subscriber, access and core networks. The group will address real-world broadband challenges and align with evolving industry priorities to bridge the gap between the network adopter and subscriber needs and technical innovation.

Open-Source Blueprints

While Broadband Forum’s five work areas are open to its membership, non-members and members from across the industry contribute to its eight open broadband projects.

These open-source initiatives deliver reference implementations and software development kits, serving as examples of how Broadband Forum specifications can be implemented. They act as baseline platforms for more services and applications, with updates to the code available as the specifications mature. Those involved can access the community-developed and tested source code and be part of the development process.

Open-source software provides device and equipment vendors with a code base that they can integrate into their devices and their existing systems. These open-source software blueprints also act as a valuable starting point for application developers to base their designs on. In turn, those applications can be made available on platforms for BSPs to select and offer to their customers. Tellingly, this shortens the path between the development and test stages of a specification to the first deployments of the technologies and solutions into the network. It can also lower the overall research and development (R&D) and maintenance costs of the common code base shared and supported by the community.

These open-source implementations for different components in the network can also provide invaluable feedback during the standardization process. They uncover areas that require more detail, identify implementation changes, or pinpoint necessary adaptions to improve interoperability. When the likes of AI and energy efficiency are being developed, this is often enabled by access to open-source software. R&D projects can use the pre-built code to add AI or energy efficiency, for example, to a network function rather than starting over.

Broadband Forum is currently working on the following open-source projects:

• OB-5WWC (Open Broadband – WWC Reference Implementation for 5G-RG) — The OB-5WWC project provides a reference architecture and base code for 5G fixed-line RG devices, meeting the requirements within BBF and 3GPP’s WWC specifications.
• OB-BAA (Open Broadband-Broadband Access Abstraction) — Delivers an open reference implementation specifying the Northbound Interfaces (NBI), Core Components and Southbound Adapter Interfaces that operators and vendors worldwide can use to develop and deploy interoperable cloud-based access networks more easily and quickly.
• OB-CAS (Open Broadband CloudCO Application Software Development Kit) — Aims to make monitoring and maintenance easier for BSPs by providing a software development kit enabling them to easily integrate applications, leveraging the BBF’s automated intelligent management (AIM) framework into their access network management platforms.
• OB-MAP (Open Broadband-Multi Access Point) — Developing a high-level data model for network operators that would ease the configuration of Wi-Fi across the home. The group generates requirements for features that extend and enhance the Wi-Fi Alliance EasyMesh and Data Elements specifications for use in a BSP-managed subscriber local network via BBF technologies TR-069 and User Services Platform (USP).
• OB-STAMP (Open Broadband - Simple Two-Way Active Measurement Protocol) — This measurement component, outlined in TR-390.2² aims to reduce the cost and time of deploying and implementing infrastructure for measuring network latency in BSP networks, particularly to and within the home. It operates as a containerized application within the USP paradigms.
• OB-STEER (Open Broadband Subscriber Session Steering) — Provides a reference implementation for key elements of the Subscriber Session Steering architecture as currently worked out in BBF’s WT-474 project to deliver flexible, on-demand connectivity, failover functionality, and simplified network management.
• OB-UDPST (Open Broadband User Datagram Protocol Speed Test) —Open source implementation of a tool to measure the network metrics defined in TR-471: IP Layer Capacity Metrics and Measurement.³ This empowers BSPs to conduct segment-by-segment or comprehensive end-to-end connection quality assessments, spanning from the network edge, through the access network, and even within the home or business network.
• OB-USP-Agent (Open Broadband-User Services Platform-Agent) — Creates a reference implementation of the USP specification from a USP Agent perspective, that would typically reside in CPE. OB-USP-Agent provides a common, community supported code base, that is already being integrated into downstream open-source projects like Prpl and RDK-B.

Trio of New Open-Source Projects Underway

The OB-CAS, OB-STAMP and OB-STEER projects are the most recently introduced⁴ by the Broadband Forum and bring together software developers and standards experts from across the organization. The new projects are set to deliver an improved user experience, simplified network performance measurement and monitoring for BSPs, and a wider choice of in-home applications for broadband consumers.

The projects provide a foundation for AI and ML for network automation, additional tools for network latency and performance measurements, and on-demand connectivity for different applications. OB-CAS is simplifying network operations and automating them through existing Broadband Forum cloud standards that use AI and ML to improve the end-user experience.

OB-STAMP is building a component that simplifies the measurement of network performance between CPE and the IP Edge. The project is set to allow BSPs to monitor home networks, measure latency, and avoid network failures. OB-STEER will allow network operators to offer flexible, on-demand connectivity and is set to be interoperable for implementation in the access network and edge equipment from various vendors.

Together: Successful

The marriage of open broadband standards and the latest software developments are laying the foundations for improved end-user experiences—a core focus across all Broadband Forum work areas and open-source software projects.

As BSPs look to expand their offerings beyond the broadband connection, the synergy of open source and open standards will play a pivotal role in this evolution. Broadband Forum’s open-source efforts mirror the open, technology-neutral nature of the organization where everyone’s voice is heard.

If you are interested in joining Broadband Forum’s open source and open standards projects, contact: [email protected].

REFERENCES

1. ISE Magazine article, https://isemag.com/55284080

2. Broadband Forum report, https://www.broadband-forum.org/pdfs/tr-390.2-1-1-0.pdf

3. Broadband Forum Technical Library, https://www.broadband-forum.org/technical-library/?number=TR-471

4. Broadband Forum projects, https://www.broadband-forum.org/2025-03-05-broadband-forum-launches-three-new-open-broadband-projects