CableLabs, Tellabs are among 15 new members to join the Broadband Forum

The Broadband Forum has named 15 new members to its organization, a list that includes three startup companies, reflecting the continuing growth in the broadband services ecosystem.

Broadband Forum
Robin Mersh

These new member companies span the gamut of the Broadband Forum’s work, which has evolved to include a focus on next-gen technologies such as virtualization, software-defined networks (SDN), the internet of things (IoT), next-generation optical networks, 5G and G.fast.

Robin Mersh, CEO of the Broadband Forum, said in a release that the organization is seeing greater interest from a broader range of service providers and vendors.  

RELATED: Broadband Forum’s Mersh: We need to engage with smaller service providers

“The work the Forum is carrying out to deliver on our Broadband 20/20 vision is attracting a lot of interest from companies across the industry and the Forum is the perfect platform for them as every member has an equal voice, whether they are a start-up or a long-established operator,” Mersh said. “Today the broadband industry is changing and evolving at a rapid pace and the addition of these new members demonstrates the Forum remains a clear voice amid the changes."

Here's a list of the Broadband Forum's new members: 

Company Type 
CableLabs Standards
EANTC Standards
Fujitsu Limited Vendor
Genesis Technical Systems integrator
Go!Foton  
Jabil Circuit (Shanghai) Company Vendor
MaxLinear Vendor
Radisys Vendor
Shenzhen Gongjin Electronics Vendor
SK Telecom Service Provider
Telekom Slovenia Service Provider
Tellabs Vendor
TiBit Communications Vendor
VoltServer Vendor
Works Systems (Tianjin) Vendor

The forum’s Broadband 20/20 initiative focuses on leveraging emerging technologies and approaches to enable new services and business opportunities across the entire network-enabled broadband ecosystem from user devices to cloud data centers.

Some of the organization’s latest activities that stem from the Broadband 20/20 initiative include: the Cloud Central Office (CloudCO) project, an evolution of the popular TR-069 protocol to accommodate IoT and consumer electronics with the User Services Platform, and preparation for a significant cooperation with 3GPP that will lead to the advance of 5G on a unified network.

Two key areas that Broadband Forum has been working on recently include G.fast and NG-PON2, which the organization created technology-focused groups around to drive interoperability and awareness.

Broadband Forum recently organized the G.fast Council, a new group focused on facilitating rapid deployment of G.fast implementations in service provider networks.

Additionally, the forum announced the first six products to have successfully completed the G.fast certification program from the Forum and the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory.