HomeGrid Forum accelerates Gigabit access network delivery by leveraging existing wire infrastructure and ensuring interoperability through industry collaboration

Beaverton, US, 21 April 2021: To meet the demand for gigabit home networking speeds and enable reliable next-generation networks, HomeGrid Forum today highlighted that technology vendors and service providers must work together to leverage existing wired infrastructure and deliver interoperable standards-based networking solutions. Newly appointed HomeGrid Forum President Livia Rosu joined distinguished speakers from Liberty Global, UPC Schweiz and Adtran on a connectivity panel at the Gigabit Access virtual event, hosted today by Total Telecom.

HomeGrid Forum has been invited to participate as recognition increases of G.hn technology and its capabilities of a robust connectivity backbone, high bandwidth and full interoperability in providing high quality broadband services and reducing the deployment cost of last mile infrastructure.

This comes at a time when HomeGrid Forum is fostering industry wide collaboration and promoting the recent Broadband Forum technical report TR-419 (Fiber Access Extension over Existing Copper Infrastructure), as the key to unlocking the potential of using copper cables to extend fiber-based services into the premises.

“Over the past year, we have seen people increasingly rely on internet connectivity, and it is critical that the network infrastructure meets the high levels of demand and be fully interoperable with an ever-growing number of devices,” said Rosu. “G.hn allows service providers to accelerate the delivery of gigabit access networks and reduce deployment costs by reusing existing phoneline and coaxial cables. It ensures reliable, fast connectivity through legacy wiring, negating the need to install fiber or new cables all the way to end-users’ premises.”

It is impossible for one technology to serve all use cases, making it imperative that country specific topology challenges and the role of self-organized networks are considered. G.hn-based access equipment is a critical component of the global effort to adopt the FTTep (Fiber to the extension point) architecture and accelerate the deployment of broadband services. To ensure security and reliability, the implementation of interoperable products is crucial.

To tackle this, HomeGrid Forum has recently launched GiGAWire™ Certification, a new certification scheme for G.hn access equipment.

“HomeGrid Forum is dedicated to guaranteeing interoperability across all levels of broadband technology and our certification programs are a key part of this. Multivendor interoperability is critical, because while products may be based on the same broadband technology or implement the same standard, there can be significant differences that can only be identified through a compliance certification program,” explained Rosu. “Interoperability certification creates a seamless customer experience, enables network security and is needed to ensure the broadband industry remains successful and competitive.”

G.hn and the gigabit speeds it can provide are already playing a critical role in the rollout of Wi-Fi 6 and this is expected to continue as Wi-Fi standardization evolves further.

“This is an exciting time for the broadband industry as a whole, as we expect G.hn to help service providers expedite their deployment in a cost-effective manner, enable even higher data rates, transform networks and ultimately enhance the end-user experience,” concluded Rosu.

To find out more about HomeGrid Forum’s G.hn certification program, visit https://homegridforum.org/certification-overview/.