In order to help create a more agile network, the Broadband Forum announced its Broadband Network Gateway (BNG) Disaggregation project on Tuesday.
While there has been work underway for some time on splitting up BNG's control and user planes, the BNG Disaggregation project will work toward defining the architecture and requirements. In tandem with software-defined networking (SDN), separating the BNG control plane from the data plane enables operators to centralize the management and control of a routed network. Other benefits include centralized locations for IP address management, all of which can be scaled up or down according to customer demand.
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BNG Disaggregation also simplifies network operation. Without it, operators are forced to deploy and manage multiple BNGs across numerous locations closer to the network edge to address load spreading. Increased video and bandwidth consumption across broadband networks is also driving the need for disaggregated BNGs.
"As demand for both broadband and bandwidth-hungry video applications grows, the disaggregation of the BNG for scalability is critical to mitigate issues created by distributed BNG deployments," said Broadband Forum Chairman Kevin Foster, in a prepared statement. "Over the years, BNGs have also had to evolve to support new functionalities such as management of multiple types of accesses, transport encapsulations and customers. This work will ensure flexible scalability through a simplified and agile architecture."
Through its Central office Re-Architected as a Data Center (CORD) project, the Open Networking Foundation is also working on the disaggregation of BNGs.