Broadband Forum Certifies First G.fast Kit for Commercial Rollout

The Broadband Forum has today pushed G.fast “ultrafast broadband” technology closer to market readiness and multi-vendor deployment by certifying the first six hardware products for use from ARRIS, Calix, Huawei, Metanoia, Nokia and Technicolor.

The first bits of network kit to pass the certification test include products based on chipsets from Broadcom, Metanoia and Sckipio, although many more are expected to follow over the next few months. Each product was tested via the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL), which made sure they conformed to the required standards and were cross-device and cross-silicon interoperable.

Kevin Foster, BT’s GM for Architecture and Innovation, said:

“Interoperable standardized Gfast technology is key because it underpins an ability to deliver next generation ultrafast broadband at scale. Certification to the Broadband Forum’s Gfast requirements provides a known level of confidence and will reduce test time for both network operators and their communication provider customers.”

Lincoln Lavoie, UNH-IOL’s Senior Engineer, said:

“The certification represents an outstanding technical achievement with hundreds of rigorous tests of the stability, functionality, control, and performance of Gfast systems and thousands of hours of close technical collaboration over many months between the lab and all of the companies involved. The program’s certification of these products has played a significant role in understanding and improving the implementation of Gfast.”

At present Openreach has already deployed their 330Mbps capable G.fast technology to reach well over 100,000 UK homes and businesses as part of a large-scale pilot in 20 locations (here). It’s hoped that the full commercial roll-out will begin later this year and that could reach 10 million premises by 2020.