[November 11, 2009] The Home Gateway Initiative: HGI Announces Partnership Agreement With Broadband Forum Tweet Nov 11, 2009 (M2 PRESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- The Home Gateway Initiative (HGI) today announced that it has signed a liaison agreement with the Broadband Forum that will lead to close collaboration by both organisations on the development of standards and specifications for broadband networks worldwide. The comprehensive agreement is designed to enhance the already active cooperation between HGI and the Broadband Forum. It allows each organisation to provide input, and to release copyright on work-in-progress specifications to the partner organisation as working documents are drafted. The result will be acceleration and strong alignment of key specification work within the industry that leads to improvements in the capabilities of customers' broadband networks. The areas of cooperation by these two groups will be centred on architectural and functional requirements for customer located broadband equipment. HGI's mission to solve the service, feature and technology challenges in the digital home complements the Broadband Forum's core competencies in end-to-end architecture and management. The groups agreed to cooperate in addressing quality of service (QoS), software modularity, IPv6, energy efficiency and testing. Both groups will meet regularly to discuss projects and priorities for industry standards in these and other areas. HGI Chief Technical Officer, Duncan Bees, said, "While informal cooperation has happened for some time, the strong formal collaboration between HGI and Broadband Forum that is now taking place is tremendously important for the industry. Both organisations bring a unique focus on a set of related problems, and are stronger by working together. By jointly identifying goals, sharing work in progress, and avoiding duplication of efforts, our member companies receive better value for their investments of resources in our respective efforts. The industry has important issues to solve, and this agreement helps significantly." "The customer's network is now undoubtedly a vital part of all service providers' networks, and one in which standardisation is becoming increasingly important," said Robin Mersh, COO of the Broadband Forum. "This agreement gives greater breadth to the expertise of both the Broadband Forum and the HGI, which, in turn expedites critical work and ensures more advanced specifications and standards; ultimately the result is increased service provider deployment of CPE and improved QoS for the end-user." Together, the two groups represent over 200 companies, and over 30 service providers, including Arcor, AT&T, Belgacom, Bell, BT, Cable & Wireless, China Telecom, China Unicom, Chunghwa Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, Embarq, Fastweb, France Telecom, KDDI, KPN, KT, Magyar Telecom, NTT, OTE, Portugal Telecom, Qwest, SingTel, Swisscom, Telecom Italia, Tata Teleservices Ltd, TDC, Telecom Slovenije, Telecom New Zealand, Telefonica, Telekomunikacja Polska, Telekom Austria, Telekom Malaysia, Telenor, TeliaSonera, Telkom SA, Telstra, Telus and Verizon. About the Home Gateway Initiative The HGI, founded in 2004 by nine telecom operators, is shaping the next generation of internet and voice services. Starting from use-cases and service needs, the HGI sets requirements for Home Gateways, infrastructure devices, and the home network. The HGI now has members from across the globe, representing the entire spectrum of players in the broadband home area. About the Broadband Forum The Broadband Forum mission is to develop the full potential of broadband. With the recent union with the IP/MPLS Forum, the Broadband Forum is now the central body for next generation IP network specifications. This organization, comprising around 200 members of most of the world's leading service providers, equipment manufacturers, chip vendors and other key organizations, defines and facilitates next generation networks for local broadband access, mobile backhaul, business services, IPTV, gaming and other applications, and is poised to address further developments as they arise. The Broadband Forum's formal BroadbandSuite Release Program, Technical Reports and specifications are publicly available atwww.broadband-forum.org CONTACT: The Home Gateway Initiative WWW: http://www.homegatewayinitiative.org Brian Dolby / Kirsty Roberts, BCS Tel: +44 (0)115 948 6901 e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] Broadband Forum WWW: http://www.broadband-forum.org ((M2 Communications disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to [email protected]. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]