In This Issue
Dear Members,
Combining two great organizations over the last 8 months has been a challenge, but equally rewarding. Our first two meetings as the BSF in LA and Cardiff were overwhelmingly successful and I thank those of you who sent personal notes regarding the success. As I mentioned in Cardiff, I judge your level of interest in what the BSF is doing by your response and level of activity in the organization. We had a 90% member turnout for the Board election in April, and working groups are growing in size on a monthly basis, releasing some highly relevant work for our member companies. Please check out the CANS Technical Documents, European Content Roundtable and Open Architecture whitepapers, which have been posted on the BSF website in the past weeks. I would also encourage you to take a look at the LA Recap document, which was written by ScreenPlays editor Fred Dawson, as it is the most comprehensive meeting doc we have ever put out.
Many of you have contacted me about the state of the website, and I want to assure you moving from this interim web site to a new one is one of our highest priorities. The Forum and our partner, Starmark, are working diligently to release the new site in the coming months. The new site will reflect the progressive nature of the Forum, make information easier to access and provide up to date information on the activities of the organization.
On a personal note, I'd like to extend thanks to Alison Ward our Project Coordinator who has taken on a new challenge outside of the Forum's Secretariat and look forward to introducing you to our new Coordinator in the coming weeks. Best of luck to Alison!
Kind regards,
Derek Kuhn
BSF Board Chairman
BSF Q3 Meeting
September 19-20, 2005
Vienna Austria
Hosted by Telekom Austria
Carriers World 2005
September 19-22, 2005
Victoria Park Plaza, London, England
Andy Birchall, BSF Vice Chairman, Europe, will provide the opening remarks at the Broadband Home Services day, September 22, 2005.
June 23, 2005 - Press Release
Broadband Services Forum Issues Drafts for Content-to-Network Signaling Standards
The Broadband Services Forum, an international industry resource that provides a forum to address the fundamental business and technology issues vital to the growth and health of the broadband industry, today announced the results of its first elections of the Board of Directors since its inception in January of 2005. Representatives from Alcatel, Aliant Telecom, Juniper Networks, net.com, Nortel, On Demand Group, Siemens, Telekom Austria and Thomson constitute the nine directors who will set the course for the Broadband Services Forum.
June 7, 2005 - Press Release
Broadband Services Forum Issues Drafts for Content-to-Network Signaling Standards
The Broadband Services Forum (BSF) today announced the release of draft documentation regarding proposed industry application programming interfaces (APIs) for the signaling between systems that manage content delivery and the systems that manage the network resources.
The CANS working group has completed its first draft of the functional spec for the Application to Network Interface (ANI) signaling. This is the ability to allow a content source (video, voice, gaming, home security/telemetry, conferencing, etc) to single its experience or Quality of Service requirements to the network. This draft outlines the first concrete example of how content and networks can be tightly coupled to ensure that the content is delivered to the customer in a way that is appropriate for the specific type of content or service. It has been designed to integrate tightly with both the DSL Forum efforts around TR-59 as well as the CableLabs efforts around PacketCable Multimedia.
All BSF Members have access to this draft specification on the BSF web site. It is important that members review and comment on it in order to ensure that we have a spec that is representative of the views, ideas, and concerns of the entire forum. To date, we have had very little feedback.
We have also initiated liaison efforts with both the DSL Forum and CableLabs so that we can work more closely with them on this spec and how it integrates into their work. Also, we recently presented to the organization formerly known as the Infranet Initiative Council (they are looking for a new name) and received very strong feedback about the value of this work.
The plan is to continue to refine this spec and then publicly publish it. While we are doing that, we are looking at some of the other signaling components for the network that require more work. We are in early talks to find a chair for the group that will define the content to back office (A-BOSI) signaling interface. Expect to learn more about that in the upcoming months.
The Business Working Group is currently in the process of validating the attractiveness of CANS for industry players representing all steps in the value chain, from content producers to infrastructure operators.
Several interviews have already been conducted with content owners and European cable operators. Based respectively on Belgian and German cable operators Telenet and Kabel BW, at this stage, it appears that there are few opportunities for the CANS concept among cable TV operators in Europe as they consider that DOCSIS-1 allows them to manage the IP packets in an appropriate manner. For cable operators deploying fiber to the curb, such as German player Ish, there is no need for CANS in the near future. Content owners consider that CANS is interesting for operators and broadband service providers that are looking for ways to optimize the traffic on their networks. The German pay-TV operator Premiere and the US premium programmer HBO believe that, if implemented, the cost of such a feature should be borne by the network operators but, as content players, they estimate that it is not legitimate for them to financially contribute to this technical effort.
Further interviews will be conducted over the summer with various industry players among them Exent, Swisscom and Disney. We expect to learn more about the interest for CANS especially from the incumbent telcos.
The recently formed BSF Marketing Committee is responsible for promoting the activities of the Forum through the variety of means at its disposal, including website, meetings, speaking opportunities, press engagements, joint sponsorships, liaisons, etc. In addition to communicating the output of the BSF, the Marketing Committee plays a key role in defining the Forum's deliverables such that their value is clear and relevant to the membership.
The BSF Marketing Committee relies on the contributions of several members from a diverse set of companies that include Nortel, net.com, Phillips, Thompson, Alcatel, ECI Telecom, and Redback.
About The BSF News:
The BSF News is a for member companies of the Broadband Services Forum and other interested parties. Feel free to distribute the BSF News to colleagues who may be interested in the activities of the Forum. To subscribe or unsubscribe to The BSF News send an email to:
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