New name for industry body as DSL Forum becomes Broadband Forum

Details: Category: Consumer Ecosystems; 30 June 2008; 11182 views

As industry convergence and triple play take root, the DSL Forum has decided on a new name and identity which it feels reflects its current role more accurately...

As industry convergence and triple play take root, the DSL Forum has decided on a new name and identity which it feels reflects its current role more accurately.

The new name - The Broadband Forum - reflects the change in its role, according to the Forum, as changing network environments and new sophisticated applications such as IPTV have impacted its work. The DSL Forum has expanded its scope of work over the years to meet the need for greater speed, more responsive network provisioning and greater personalized Quality of Experience (QoE) for customers.

Moving from pure DSL solutions to include access agnostic management specifications in 2005, the Forum now adds PON solutions, more digital home optimization models and sets the standard for real time application support. "Broadband has already changed lives considerably since our organization first began in 1994 - but now the world stands on the brink of a giant leap forward in converged communications," said George Dobrowski, Chairman and President of The Broadband Forum.

"For some time now, we have been dealing with much more than DSL," continues Dobrowski. "Yet we discovered that because of the DSL in our name, many of our specifications that are access agnostic, management related or provide solutions to broader broadband issues, were being missed by the standards community because they mistakenly thought our work was just DSL specific.

The upcoming release of BroadbandSuite Release 3.0 appears to have been the trigger for the change. BroadbandSuite Release 3.0 will provide a simplified management and architecture for the hybrid DSL and fibre networks that are emerging.

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