As the DSL Forum starts to make the rules that will ensure the delivery any service over any network, equipment makers are responding with new hardware and software.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [October 27, 2006]

Emeryville, Calif.-based Netopia has been busy, following the DSL Forum's New Direction that we covered recently.

As you recall, the DSL Forum is working on standards for the broadband home that will go beyond DSL to be compatible with fiber, wireless, and other forms of transit that ISPs might use.

In addition, the Forum is preparing for convergence with standards for VoIP, video, and even games, all at various stages of development. For example, TR-104 describes provisioning parameters for VoIP and WT-135 covers the remote management of set top boxes.

Tying all the initiatives together is TR-069, which helps automate the provisioning and management of subscriber devices.

So many announcements
In pursuing these various initiatives, Netopia announced:

• eCare 4.5 support software that allows agents to access PCs with the user's permission
• a VoIP strategy based on new CPE
• a 3-D Reach feature for longer range Wi-Fi for Netopia CPE
• embedded software for applications and IPTV for Netopia gateways

Netopia's no longer just a DSL hardware shop. David Gwartzman, Netopia's director of European strategic accounts and business activities, explains the company's new strategy. "Netopia delivers broadband services. Our target markets are carriers, service providers, and enterprises. We help them to expand their broadband service offering through our portfolio of CPE equipment, remote management and support software, and value-added solutions."

In CPE hardware, the company is building more powerful products for end users, anticipating new services driven by greater bandwidth availability. Gwartzman works in Europe, where DSL speeds are faster than in the U.S. because the companies there are deploying VDSL2 and bonded ADSL2+ solutions.

Accessories, including the company's 3-D Reach wireless cards as well as its ATAs, support the triple play strategy with wireless and VoIP features, respectively.

On the service provider side, the Netopia Broadband Server (NBBS) has been upgraded to version 3.1, now supporting TR-104 and WT-135. The server can now interact with the subscriber database for permissions and billing. The company also upgraded the GUI.

Netopia's gateways also support voice and video. The MiAVo gateways (short for Media in, Audio and Video out for triple-play services) are specifically designed to support voice and video, and the 2200 and 3300 also support triple play services with the software upgrade.

For its commercial gateways, the company also released a software upgrade, focusing on security and wireless features.

The converged future meets in the digital home
"We deliver comprehensive management from the gateway to the desktop and, soon, to the set top box," says Gwartzman.

The company is planning for a high bandwidth future. It doesn't even require fiber to the home (FTTH). "Fiber is being pulled to the node in Europe," says Gwartzman. "FTTN allows shorter copper loops and is conducive to VDSL2 deployments, which reach speeds of 100 Mbps down, 50 Mbps up."

As convergence happens, Gwartzman warns, what's new will become a commodity. "We like to think, in the service provision business, that things are new, but they're not. If you pick any time in the past 40 years, you'd find that services always commoditize. In response, service providers need to continuously inject rich new services."

Gwartzman says that even as Netopia makes new services possible, he's not forecasting what those services will be. "DSL and related innovations made it possible to deliver so much over a single copper pair. Who knows what the future holds!"

Netopia and its peers are ready to help service providers when the hour of need arrives, he insists. "Middleware vendors, CPE vendors, and others will always help and sometimes even push service providers to attain the objectives they need to reach in order to maintain their bottom line."

—End