With how critical Wi-Fi is for business operations, Wi-Fi connectivity, monitoring and optimization are demanded to be top-of-mind for operators to ensure that their networks are delivering the best-possible experience to users.
Let’s break it down.
For the sake of connectivity, operators need to ensure that their Wi-Fi networks are always available. They also need to monitor and track the performance of their Wi-Fi networks in real-time to identify and address any issues with the network, such as slow speeds or dropped connections. Optimization is crucial because it allows operators to ensure that their Wi-Fi networks are operating at maximum efficiency. This includes optimizing the network configuration, managing network traffic and adjusting network settings to ensure that the network is providing the best-possible performance.
To better address these needs, RDK Management launched a unified Wi-Fi software management component for residential gateways, access points and mesh extenders to provide advanced Wi-Fi management and telemetry features to the RDK community.
RDK-Broadband (RDK-B) is composed of open-source software components that standardize key functions used in broadband CPE, regardless of the network access technology, including DOCSIS, GPON, DSL and fixed wireless.
The main purpose of the software? To offer a uniform technical approach for device management, diagnostics, routing, DNS settings and IoT interfaces, among others.
By standardizing these functions, service providers now create and implement a consistent set of applications and services across different hardware and chipset providers. Among its components, RDK-B includes Wi-Fi management software, which is a fundamental part of the system.
The RDK-B software ensures that core functionalities of Wi-Fi gateways, access points, and Mesh extenders/pods are standardized for operators using OpenSync or Wi-Fi EasyMesh. The software provides standard procedures to manage features such as device telemetry, band steering, and interoperability with cloud-based Wi-Fi management systems through the common RDK message bus.
Additionally, RDK's Wi-Fi management software works with third-party cloud management platforms that offer real-time and historical KPIs. These platforms use cloud data analysis to help support, operations and engineering teams measure subscribers' connectivity and performance.
"The contribution of the new Wi-Fi management software will provide a powerful set of tools to the RDK community and support cloud-based Wi-Fi connectivity services for the broadband devices used by Comcast (News - Alert), Sky and our syndication partners," said Labeeb Ismail, Senior Vice President of Global Devices Software for Comcast and Sky.
Liem Vo, the chief OpenSync officer at Plume, added to that by saying that standardizing some essential functions and offering over 50 OpenSync-certified devices enables CSPs to concentrate on providing unique services at a large scale and deploying advanced cloud platforms that can enhance the customer experience.
From there, cloud-based connectivity predictions and capabilities are taken advantage of to enhance network performance on a larger scale, resulting in more personalized, dependable and whole-home connectivity that caters to individual requirements.
Comcast and the OpenSync community collaborated to create this open-source code software component.
Edited by
Alex Passett
