Fernando Bastos

CWMP extensions for enhanced management of domestic network services

Broadband Forums CPE Wan Management Protocol (CWMP/TR-069) became, in the last few years, a key industry standard for the management of devices that, despite located in the local network of domestic broadband users, still need to be directly managed by operators due to their relevance to added value services such as VoIP, IPTV, VoD or femtocell applications. Despite its relevance, the adoption of CWMP is still slow, in part because current CWMP applications do not cope well (yet) with the dynamic environment of domestic LANs, where the nature of topologies and services to be managed quickly evolves. In this paper we propose an extensible CWMP agent framework that, whilst keeping full compatibility with the original specification, allows it to better adapt to the home network environment, by incorporating the notion of extensible CWMP agents and proxying mechanisms.

Integration of PXE-based desktop solutions into broadband access networks

Presently there is a lack of remote desktop management solutions for domestic and SOHO users connected to broadband access networks. This contrasts with the enterprise LAN environment, where there are several standards, resources and frameworks for PC or thin-client management. Among these, one specific remote boot technology - the Preboot execution Environment (PXE) [1] - is now the basis for a wide array of LAN-wide desktop management applications.

A Framework for Internet Media Services Delivery to the Home Environment

In this paper, we propose a framework that enables Internet service providers (ISPs) to provide multimedia content to generic devices located inside the domestic networks of their customers (such as PCs and generic media players) in a seamless manner. In order to achieve this transparent integration between ISP-provided multimedia content and generic consumer media players, the domestic gateway becomes a managed UPnP AV/DLNA (Universal Plug and Play/Digital Living Network Alliance) media server, which can be dynamically updated by the broadband operator using Broadband Forum’s CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) WAN Management Protocol (CWMP) extensions specifically designed for this purpose. This framework enables the domestic gateway to become a mediator for both operator-provided and Internet media content, provided through UPnP services visible inside the domestic LAN. The adoption of a neutral UPnP/DLNA architecture that uses plugins to abstract each service allows it to become independent of the domestic gateway platform, allowing ISPs to easily add support for new media services while better coping with protocol updates. The proposed framework has been developed and validated in the scope of the project S3P, in cooperation between the University of Coimbra and Portugal Telecom’s PT Inovação innovation and R&D unit.

On the use of thin-client Set-Top Boxes for IPTV services

Together with the developments in terms of broadband connectivity and IP-based service consolidation, the introduction of cloud technologies is opening a whole new window of opportunity for service and telecommunications operators alike, to improve and expand their service portfolio. In this line of thought, this paper presents an innovative proposal to improve the delivery of IPTV services for residential users. It departs from the existing model, based on fat Set-Top Box (STB) appliances designed for specific IPTV frameworks, going instead for a solution that turns STBs into stateless devices, with the whole service interface being moved to the provider infrastructure. This thin-client STB-based service delivery model for IPTV, also includes the necessary management mechanisms to provision and configure the involved components. Overall, this approach is designed to enable providers to improve and simplify their IPTV delivery infrastructure, while maintaining backwards-compatibility with their existing Operations Support Systems.

Using UPnP-CWMP integration for operator-assisted management of domestic LANs

The Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) protocol framework was conceived to allow seamless device discovery, control and configuration on domestic LANs, with minimum user intervention. It supports a wide range of devices, from printers to network equipment, having become an important mechanism for automatic configuration of devices within domestic LANs.

How to provision and manage off-the-shelf SIP phones in domestic and SOHO environments

Integrated services delivered over broadband connections are becoming the norm in domestic households, as it is the case with triple-play bundles which offer combined Voice, Television and Data services delivered using IP-based technologies and protocols. As a result, the usage of SIP-based (Session Initiation Protocol) VoIP devices has known a significant growth in domestic environments, either in the form of standalone (e.g. SIP telephones) or embedded devices (as it happens with some domestic gateways, which embed analog-to-SIP adaptors). For Internet Service Providers (ISPs), the provisioning and management of those devices is a challenge — especially standalone SIP phones, since most of them were exclusively designed for corporate LAN usage, not supporting adequate mechanisms for remote management over broadband access networks. In this paper we propose a framework which allows the integration of off-the-shelf SIP phones with the CWMP protocol suite, the prevailing standard for remote management of Customer Premises Devices (CPEs) in broadband access networks. This integration framework supports the vast majority of commercially available SIP phones whilst maintaining full compatibility with the original CWMP specification — thus allowing ISPs to reuse their CWMP management infrastructure to configure and provision off-the-shelf SIP telephones.

Building an NFV-based vRGW: Lessons learned

The residential gateway (RGW) is a widely deployed device in the context of telecommunication services such as triple play and internet access. Designed to make the connection between the customer home and the operator infrastructure, it provides wired and/or wireless connectivity capabilities, also handling services such as Domain Name Service (DNS) proxying, routing, Network Address Translation (NAT) or firewalling, among others. Its increased complexity, together with other factors — such as device-related costs, or the increased reliance on RGWs for providing critical services — has prompted an interest in its virtualization, also motivated by the evolution of network and service-centric virtualization concepts. This paper presents an approach for the virtualization of the residential gateway (vRGW). It starts by giving an overview of the concept, explaining it and pointing out its benefits. It also explains the virtualization techniques and paradigms that have pushed this movement, namely software defined networking (SDN), network function virtualization (NFV), and service function chaining (SFC). Additionally, it describes the implementation of the vRGW architecture, including a description of its components and their integration.