g.fast media primer by sckipio

Rev. 1.0 Sckipio Corporation

G.fast Overview Media Primer

G.fast Media Primer

Rev. 1.0 Sckipio Corporation 2

Overview

The purpose of this document it to help the media understand the next generation broadband technology, G.fast, and correctly report on the topic.

Quick Summary

• G.fast: New 1Gbps ultra broadband standard over existing phone lines

• Who will use G.fast: telephone companies, not cable companies

• When can consumers buy: Consumer deployments will start in late 2015

• Who created the standard: ITU and Broadband Forum. Their members include all the leading telephone, equipment and communications silicon companies globally

• What’s the industry support for the standard: Nearly every major telco and equipment company supports the standard

• Why was it created: Due to differences in underlying technology, cable companies have been able to offer faster speeds. G.fast was designed to enable telephone companies to offer ultra high-speed internet services at more affordable prices.

• Why G.fast instead of fiber: Fiber to the home is very expensive to install. G.fast was created to deliver similar performance at 10th the investment. Plus, G.fast is expected to roll out more quickly than FTTH

Key Pronunciation Guide

• G.fast: gee dot fast

• ITU: eye tee you

• Gbps: Gigabits per second (billion bits)

• Mbps: Megabits per second (million bits)

• Kbps: kilobits per second (thousand bits)

• Telco: tell ko (like co in Pepsico)

• FTTH: fiber to the home

• FTTdp: fiber to the distribution point

• DSLAM: dee slam

• DOCSIS: dock sis (like sister)

• MDU: either em dee you (or multi-dwelling units)

• TDD: either tee dee dee (or time division duplexing)

Editorial Instructions

G.fast is spelled with a capital G followed by a period and the rest of the word is lower case.

G.fast Media Primer


FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

G.FAST BASICS

What is G.fast?

G.fast is a new ultra high-speed broadband technology. It will deliver broadband access at up to 1Gbps over traditional copper telephone wires.

What’s unique about it?

G.fast offers four core benefits.

1. Ultra Broadband Speeds. It delivers up to 1Gbps – nearly 100x higher than the average U.S. consumer has access to today. The technology also makes it easy for broadband suppliers to be flexible regarding the upload and download ratio that is offered to consumers.

2. Low Cost to Deploy. With G.fast, the end consumer can self-install their new equipment without requiring an expensive and disruptive in-home professional installation. They simply plug it in to their phone line and the wall for power. Consumer self-installation cuts the investment and time needed for deployment of ultra broadband by up to 10 times. Therefore, consumers should expect to see much lower prices per megabit delivered and more consumers will receive this benefit more quickly.

3. Very reliable. Compared to existing copper technology like DSL, G.fast is expected to run not only substantially faster, but more reliably and eliminate most service disruptions that might have occurred with DSL in the past.

4. Green. G.fast uses new mechanisms to keep the power consumption of the entire network as low as possible. G.fast only consumes power when sending or receiving data. In DSL, the system consumed power 100% of the time, 24 hours a day. The rest of the time, it is essentially asleep.

Is G.fast the same as DSL?

No. While both G.fast and DSL run over phone lines, the underlying technology is quite different. G.fast should not be considered or called DSL or a faster version of DSL technology. That would be inaccurate and lead to misunderstandings.

Does G.fast compete with VDSL?

G.fast and DSL were created in the same organization (ITU) and overseen by the same trade association (Broadband Forum). Some would say G.fast is the successor to DSL. However, they are complementary technologies. DSL is best suited for long distances and G.fast is best suited for shorter distances (400 meters or closer). That said, a large percent of DSL installations will likely be upgraded to G.fast over the next 5-10 years.

G.fast Media Primer


What is the origin of the G.fast name?

The boring, engineering reason is the ITU names technologies such as G.fast using a prefix of the letter G. The word fast is an acronym for Fast Access to Subscriber Terminals (FAST). A subscriber terminal is the broadband device a consumer has in their home. Yet, a better, more accessible way to think about G.fast is to consider it the technology to deliver gigabit speeds to consumers “fast” or quickly over phone lines.

What’s the difference between broadband and ultra broadband?

Historically, broadband meant performance above 256Kbps. Now, it usually means speeds in the megabits per second. Ultra broadband means internet access performance over 100Mbps. G.fast is the first standard for copper lines designed to reliably achieve ultra broadband performance for all users and use scenarios.

Why won’t consumers simply use wireless in the future?

Wireless technology is great but it cannot compete with high-speed wire line solutions. Wireless is optimal for lower bandwidth-intensive mobile use-cases. For high performance and very high rate applications (like 4k video for large screen TV), wire line is the only feasible solution. Bandwidth for wireless networks is very expensive and will never allow speeds similar to wire line technologies for a comparably price.

Are there any other issues with wireless?

In most cases, wireless systems are connected to the Internet via wire lines (typically either Fiber optics or VDSL). While the speed of wireless continues to grow to improve the connection from the device to the wireless base station, the wireless base-station capacity also needs to grow to accommodate that additional capacity. Currently, there is a bottleneck from the wireless base-station back to the Internet. In actuality, G.fast is considered one of the most promising technologies to resolve this problem of “backhauling” traffic from the mobile base station or small cell tower back to the core of the Internet.

What are the benefits of G.fast-based services over cable-based services?

G.fast is designed to run on existing phone wires inside the home. In most homes, there are more phone jacks than coax (cable) jacks in the home. This means the broadband gateway can be placed in more places inside the home. Cable modems are shared networks – meaning that the capacity is shared across all the users of the system. With G.fast, each subscriber has his or her own G.fast line and receives 100% of that line’s capacity. G.fast is green and designed to consume the least amount of power possible for each megabit delivered.

G.fast Media Primer


WHO WILL USE G.FAST

Why telephone companies, not cable operators will use G.fast?

The core differentiation between the two types of broadband providers stems from the difference in the wires each class of company owns. Telcos own copper wires and cable companies own coax wires. G.fast is designed to run on copper wires. Therefore, telephone companies will deploy G.fast. Cable companies use a competing broadband technology called DOCSIS designed to run over coax wires.

Will every telephone company use G.fast?

Most telephone companies offering broadband are looking closely at G.fast. Each will make its own decisions based upon its unique physical infrastructure such as the distances between its centralized equipment and consumer residences. G.fast is best suited for high-density environments (where residences are close together) and less suitable for sparsely populated, highly rural environments. Moreover, G.fast is designed to run over copper infrastructure. A few telcos have already migrated to fiber. In those cases, these operators are less likely to deploy G.fast.

Which consumers are most likely to use G.fast?

Reaching apartment or condominium residents (MDU) is very challenging for telephone companies due to regulatory, right of way, and technical issues. The first and most likely recipient of G.fast will be consumers residing in cities or densely populated areas.

G.fast Media Primer


TECHNICAL EXPLANATION OF G.FAST

How does G.fast work?

G.fast is a communications technology that runs over the existing copper wires to a residence. On the consumer end, the broadband user is shipped a small box that is plugged into the wall and connects to the Internet via a telephone jack inside the home. On the telephone company side, a device is connected to the other end of the phone line close to the residence (typically less than 400 meters). This device, called a distribution point unit (DPU), then the DPU translates the signal from the phone wire to a fiber connection, which delivers the signal to the broadband service provider’s central office.

What technology breakthroughs allow G.fast to achieve 1Gbps?

G.fast uses a bandwidth spectrum from 2Mhz to 106Mhz. This is over 5x more bandwidth than VDSL, which typically runs between 2Mhz and 17Mhz. In VDSL, the central office equipment is very far away from the residence – typically 800 meters or further. As communications technologies use higher frequencies, the distance they can travel shortens (due to physics). G.fast overcomes this hurdle by making it easy and affordable for broadband operators to move this central equipment close to the residence (closer than 400 meters).

G.fast Media Primer


In addition, when telephone lines are in close proximity to each other – such as when bound together in a street cable or going up a riser inside a multi-dwelling apartment, they have crosstalk – unwanted transfer of signal from one telephone line to another telephone line. As a result, the performance of the communications is poor. In G.fast, cross-talk is eliminated via a technology called vectoring which reduces the interference between lines to a negligible level.

Will those big boxes we see near the street that run DSL need to be moved?

No. Those devices, called DSLAMs will not be replicated closer to residences. Instead, a small device called a distribution point will be placed near the home. Often, these small devices will sit on the telephone pole, in the ground, or in the basement of the apartment building. These devices are typically no larger than 18 inches wide and tall and only 6-9 inches deep.

What other breakthrough were made with G.fast?

G.fast uses a communications method called TDD or time division duplexing. What this means is that the signal is sliced by time instead of by frequency. As a result, there are two substantial benefits. The first benefit is broadband service providers can determine what ratio of upstream and downstream performance is delivered. This was impossible in VDSL. Second, the modems can be powered down when they are not transmitting, which reduces the overall power consumption substantially.

In addition, because G.fast uses such little power, the centralized box, called a DPU can be powered from the consumer’s residence instead of requiring an expensive utility company installation of power. Each subscriber contributes power to the central box. In the US, an average consumer will pay between $0.02 to $0.08 cents per month to pay for that contribution.

Does G.fast use VDSL bonding? There are some false reports that G.fast is simply bonding VDSL together. This is completely incorrect. G.fast uses a wider spectrum and only requires a single pair of copper wires to connect. G.fast doesn’t use VDSL at all. Two (or more) G.fast lines may be bonded to further enhance the bit rate.

What is reverse power?

G.fast saves money for broadband service providers by using a novel concept called reverse power. With reverse power, the service provider’s equipment is powered by the subscriber’s equipment. This approach saves thousands of dollars in installation costs – which can be passed along to subscribers.

How does reverse power work?

Current is injected into the telephone wires through the broadband gateway installed in the home. This current delivers power to the broadband service provider equipment (called a DPU or distribution point unit), which resides within a few hundred meters from the subscriber. Due to the low power capabilities of G.fast, the average consumer will spend about $0.02 to $0.08 per month in electricity to power the box.

G.fast Media Primer


Who has such reverse power solutions today?

Today, reverse power vendor, Microsemi has demonstrated G.fast with silicon vendor, Sckipio Technologies.

Why is it needed?

Existing technology VDSL equipment (called a DSLAM) used by broadband operators is typically housed in very expensive installations far from the consumer’s homes. Since G.fast is most effective when placed close to the consumer’s residence, new equipment needs to be installed. If each DSLAM was brought closer, the capital investment by telcos would be too high and the broadband services would become cost prohibitive. With reverse power, this problem goes away.

Will consumers object to reverse power?

At an average cost of around 30-40 cents per year for many consumers, the cost for G.fast reverse powering is not an issue. In fact, it is probably less expensive than what the customer currently uses (which is always consuming power). More importantly, G.fast will enable the lowest cost per megabit delivered versus any other broadband technology in history. This should result in substantial reductions in the price/performance paid by consumers and the additional power consumption will be a slight fraction of this benefit.

G.fast Media Primer


TIMING OF G.FAST

When is G.fast going to become available for consumers?

G.fast is expected to roll out to consumers later in 2015. Already, chipsets from Sckipio are shipping, real services such as UltraHD TV have already be demonstrated and equipment has already been announced.

What has to happen for G.fast to be released by service providers? Every new technology goes through a series of steps before commercialization. In the case of G.fast, the hardest parts are already completed. These include standard approval and the creation of silicon to support the standard. Now, the technology goes through a compatibility and certification process (which is being done by the Broadband Forum) and through a technical evaluation process with the telephone companies directly. Telcos are going through a three-step process that includes lab evaluations, field trials and limited commercial deployments prior to mass deployments.

The certification process includes certifying the semiconductors comply with the standard and the equipment complies with the system and management specifications dictated by the Broadband Forum. This process is underway. The first “plugfest,” which is designed to ensure interoperability across the different chip company solutions, is scheduled for later in January.

Which service providers will offer G.fast-based services?

In North America, many telcos are currently evaluating G.fast. Once that evaluation is completed, it is likely that they will roll out services.

G.fast Media Primer


STANDARDS ORGANIZATIONS

G.fast is guided by several standards organizations including the ITU, the Broadband Forum and ETSI. It is also supported by Celtic Plus (Eureka) and the Broadband Multimedia Marketing Association. Below is information about each organization

Who created the G.fast standard?

G.fast is an ITU standard. The ITU is the International Telecommunications Union – a part of the United Nations. This standard was unanimously ratified by the ITU in December 2014. This group is the leading standards body for telephone based broadband services such as DSL. Member of the G.fast working group in the ITU include AT&T, British Telecom, France Telecom, Deutsche Telecom, Swisscom and many others.

The Broadband Forum, the leading standards group for the Broadband industry, is in charge of ensuring the technology is deployed in a consistent way.

THE ITU (INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS UNION)

What is the ITU?

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is an agency of the United Nations (UN) whose purpose is to coordinate telecommunication operations and services throughout the world. Originally founded in 1865, as the International Telegraph Union, the ITU is the oldest existing international organization.

Who are the members of the ITU?

An organization based on public-private partnership since its inception, ITU currently has a membership of 193 countries and over 700 private-sector entities and academic institutions. ITU is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has twelve regional and area offices around the world.

ITU membership represents a cross-section of the global ICT sector, from the world's largest manufacturers and carriers to small, innovative players working with new and emerging technologies, along with leading R&D institutions and academia.

G.fast Media Primer


Which companies were involved in developing the G.fast standard in ITU?

• Telephone operators: AT&T, France Telecom, British Telecom, Deutsche Telecom, Telecom Italia, and Swisscom

• Equipment makers: Alcatel, Nokia-Siemens (NSN), Ericsson, Adtran, Huawei and ZTE

• Silicon companies: Sckipio, Broadcom, Ikanos, Lantiq and Metanoia

What is the standardization process within the ITU?

With the ITU, a working group is established. In the case of G.fast, the working group was within the ITU-T Study Group 15, working group Q4. The working group worked on the technical details and submitted working text to the Study Group 15 general assembly for consent. This means the text is ready for formal comments. Then the committee receives and responds to comments and clarifications. After adjusting the text to accommodate those comments, the text is submitted for ratification by the Study Group 15 general assembly. For G.fast, the final step of ratification was completed in December 2014. It was a unanimous approval.

What is the official standard within the ITU for G.fast?

G.fast consists of two recommendations: G.9700 and G.9701

• Recommendation ITU-T G.9700: Fast access to subscriber terminals (FAST) - Power spectral density specification

Recommendation ITU-T G.fast-psd specifies the control parameters that determine spectral content, power spectral density (PSD) mask requirements, a set of tools to support reduction of the transmit PSD, means to measure this PSD as well as the allowable total transmit power into a specified termination impedance. It complements the system architecture and physical layer (PHY) specification in Recommendation ITU-T G.fast.

• Recommendation ITU-T G.9701: Fast Access to Subscriber Terminals (G.fast) - Physical layer specification

Recommendation G.9701 specifies a gigabit broadband access technology that exploits the existing infrastructure of wire-pairs that were originally deployed for POTS services. Equipment implementing this Recommendation can be deployed from fibre-fed distribution points (FTTdp) located very near the customer premises, or within buildings (FTTB). This Recommendation supports asymmetric and symmetric transmission at an aggregate net data rate up to 1 Gbit/s on twisted wire-pairs using spectrum up to 106 MHz and specifies all necessary functionality to support far-end crosstalk (FEXT) cancellation between multiple wire-pairs and facilitates low power operation.

G.fast Media Primer


THE BROADBAND FORUM

What is the Broadband Forum?

The Broadband Forum is the leading trade association of broadband service providers globally. The Broadband Forum is the central organization driving broadband wireline solutions and empowering converged packet networks worldwide to better meet the needs of vendors, service providers and their customers.

Who are the members of the Broadband Forum?

The Broadband Forum has 160 members including

• North American service providers: AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink, Charter, Comcast, Google, Bell Canada, Time Warner, Telus and Saskatel

• Global service providers: British Telecom, Orange (France Telecom), Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica, Telecom Italia, China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, Telstra, NTT, Softbank, Telekom Austria, British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB), Vodafone, Belgacom, KPN, Telekom Malaysia, Swisscom, Telenor, TDC and TeliaSonora

• Equipment Providers: Actiontec, Alcatel Lucent, Adtran, Arris, Ericsson, Cisco, Huawei, Nokia, Pace, Sagemcom, Technicolor, Xavi, Zinwell, ZTE

• Semiconductors: Sckipio, Broadcom, Qualcomm, Lantiq, Microsemi, Ikanos, Marvell, Metanoia

How is the Broadband Forum involved in G.fast?

The Broadband Forum is the official consortium organizing both G.fast and the system architecture known as Fiber to the Distribution Point (FTTdp) for the market. The Broadband Forum is responsible to establish the certification process, ensure interoperability both of systems and chipsets and otherwise consolidate the requirements from service providers regarding management functionality, architecture, reverse power and other key associated technologies.

What is the difference between the ITU and the Broadband Forum?

The ITU is a standards defining organization (SDO) that recommends a technology approach to solve a specific problem – in this case, a broadband access problem. The Broadband Forum is an industry consortium that takes that recommendation and ensures both compliance with that recommendation and sets guidelines regarding the architecture and the behavior of the systems that support that recommendation.

One analogy is WiFi. The standards body for WiFi is IEEE and the standard is called 802.11. The WiFi Alliance is the trade association that ensures adherence to the IEEE standards and markets the WiFi technology. The ITU is like the IEEE – an SDO and the Broadband Forum is like the WiFi Alliance, the trade association that ensures adherence.

G.fast Media Primer


ETSI – THE EUROPEAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS STANDARDS INSTITUTE

What is ETSI?

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute(ETSI) is an independent, not-for-profit, standardization organization in the telecommunications industry (equipment makers and network operators) in Europe, with worldwide projection. ETSI produces globally-applicable standards for Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), including fixed, mobile, radio, converged, broadcast and internet technologies.

In what way is ETSI involved in G.fast? ETSI is defining the recommendations and technical specifications regarding reverse power feeding to the FTTdp units. This involves ETSI TS 101 548 v1.1.1: European Requirements for Reverse Powering of Remote Access Equipment

EUREKA - CELTIC PLUS

What is EUREKA?

EUREKA is an intergovernmental network launched in 1985, to support market-oriented R&D and innovation projects by industry, research centres and universities across all technological sectors. It is composed of 41 members, including the European Union represented by the Commission. With its flexible and decentralised network, EUREKA offers project partners rapid access to skills and expertise across Europe and national public and private funding schemes.

What is Celtic Plus?

Celtic-Plus is an industry-driven European research initiative to define, perform and finance through public and private funding common research projects in the area of telecommunications, new media, future Internet, and applications & services focusing on a new "Smart Connected World" paradigm. Celtic-Plus is a EUREKA ICT cluster and is part of the inter-governmental EUREKA network.

How is Celtic Plus involved in G.fast?

The 4GBB (4th Generation Broadband) Celtic project started in 2009 as an effort to move broadband deployment forward closing the gap between existing DSL solutions and an all-optical access network. At the same time, the ambition was to create another telecom export success for European telecom industry. The EU Integrated Project MUSE (2004-2007) had gathered major actors from the whole telecom value chain, with emphasis on vendors and operators, and during the project a common analysis, understanding and concern was developed about the obstacles to a faster and more widespread broadband deployment. The Celtic project 4GBB was the resulting effort to turn these obstacles into opportunities. These opportunities are now to be realized by the proposed project, along with a number of new challenges, for instance economizing backhauling wireless broadband.

G.fast Media Primer


Who is involved in Celtic Plus?

• The Service Providers: BT, Orange, Telefonica and TNO (representing KPN and others)

• The industry vendors: Adtran, Ericsson, Sckipio, Marvell, and Telnet

What has Celtic been doing to move G.fast along?

The first initiative was HFCC, Hybrid Fibre-Copper Connectivity using G.fast. HFCC_G_fast has three goals:

• The first goal is the completion of the standardization of G.fast, a process started by 4GBB project.

• The second goal is to maintain a European technology lead in the broadband area and thus laying the foundation for continued export successes.

• The third goal is to address the path from a completed standard to a commercial success, including providing a new backhaul technology for wireless broadband systems.

The standardization and technology development by the project facilitates a push of broadband deployment in Europe, thus giving the Digital Agenda a boost. During the HFCC phase, Celtic Plus was involved in lab testing G.fast. This project was completed in December 2014 and the 4GBB project won the Celtic Innovation Award in 2014.

In 2015, Celtic Plus will initiate its “GOLD” project which will include field testing of G.fast.

G.fast Media Primer


QUOTES IN SUPPORT OF G.FAST

ITU QUOTES

“The time from G.fast’s approval to its implementation looks set to be the fastest of any access technology in recent memory. A range of vendors has begun shipping G.fast silicon and equipment, and service providers’ lab and field trials are well underway.” - Dr Hamadoun I. Touré, Secretary-General, ITU

"Besides supporting high-end services such as multi-stream 4K UHD TV, in urban areas already with good penetration of fixed copper telephone lines, G.fast has the added benefit of bringing self-installed broadband access to existing homes cheaper and with less disruption than bringing fiber into the home," – Malcolm Johnson, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau.

BROADBAND FORUM QUOTES

"Consumers should have confidence that the leading broadband service providers globally are working hard to deliver 1Gbps, ultra broadband access. The new G.fast standard makes it possible for telcos to deploy 4K UHD services faster and more affordably than they could with Fiber to the Home (FTTH)." – Robin Mersh, CEO of Broadband Forum.

“The Broadband Forum is working closely with the ITU to ensure compliance with the G.fast standard and certify chipsets and equipment. We have already set our first plugfest for January 2015.” – Robin Mersh, CEO of Broadband Forum.

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS ASSOCIATION QUOTE

"The hot new product this holiday season and beyond is 4K UHD TVs. But consumers need confidence that 4K UHD TV online content distribution services, which are often limited by bandwidth rates, are feasible. G.fast offers a promising way to overcome this challenge." – Gary Shapiro, CEA President and CEO

“G.fast is becoming widely accepted at operators.” – Jacques Magen, Celtic Plus Chairman

G.fast Media Primer


EQUIPMENT VENDOR QUOTES

“FTTH is a great technology but, if it cannot economically reach more than 30 to 50 percent of potential customers in a reasonable amount of time, it is clear that a complementary next-generation solution is desperately required. This is especially true in light of the fact that cable operators are rolling out 100 Mbps service right now by leveraging high-bandwidth DOCSIS 3.0 and their existing Hybrid Fibre/Coax plant. Time is of the essence.” – Adtran

“There is increasing recognition that our long running romance with pure Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) strategies may fail to bear the fruits once promised… Recent years have revealed many examples where true FTTH has consistently taken longer to deploy and priced out higher than original models predicted.” - Adtran

“2015 will see the latest copper innovations – capable of ultrafast speeds approaching Gigabit rates – reach commercial deployments. G.fast offers a standards-based approach that will permit service providers to eliminate many traditional sources of delay faced by full FTTH deployments. No more landlords seeking their pound of flesh, no more missed subscriber appointments, no more planning delays. More than capable of addressing the headline speed threat posed by the cable industry, G.fast offers the predictable roll-out schedule that investors demand, coupled with a time to market proposition which will facilitate a rapid response to cable erosion.” – Ronan Kelly, CTO EMEA and APAC, Adtran

“Quite simply, G.fast moves the goalposts thanks to its ability to provide fiber-like broadband speeds. The debate is no longer about copper versus fiber, as both technologies can provide what customers want. This means operators can expand their fiber footprints in the most efficient way, choosing between copper or fiber technologies for the final connection, to ensure no customer is left behind when it comes to getting ultra-broadband services.” - Federico Guillén, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s Fixed Networks business

“Copper technologies like G.fast are crucial for enabling service providers to expand their fiber footprint and bring ultra-broadband services to as many customers as possible, as quickly as possible.” – Alcatel Lucent

“G.fast technology unleashes the potential of copper, helping operators make the most of existing copper resources and speed up ultra-broadband network deployments.” - Huawei

“G.fast technology is capable of gigabit access speeds over existing copper lines. This has undoubtedly strengthened operators' confidence to continue investing in their existing copper infrastructure to build ultra-fast broadband networks. Copper infrastructure is a very important resource for fixed line operators. In addition, building ultra-fast broadband networks by reusing existing copper infrastructure with innovative technologies results in a relatively quick network roll-out and a rapid return on investment. Therefore, G.fast is an increasingly appealing option in more and more operators' eyes.” - Huawei

G.fast Media Primer


ANALYST QUOTES

“G.fast is the latest and greatest (in bandwidth terms), and possibly the last great leap forward for copper” – Oliver Johnson, CEO Point Topic

“In order to meet their customers’ demands and regulatory objectives for high-speed broadband services, operators are increasingly turning to fiber-to-the-distribution point technologies. With its ability to provide fiber-like speeds without the time, cost and disruption associated with full fiber-to-the-home deployments, G.fast will have a significant role to play in operators’ ultra-broadband strategies.” - Teresa Mastrangelo, founder of analyst firm Broadbandtrends

“The truth is that we are seeing operator trials way ahead of where they usually are in prior broadband technology generations, and we get the impression that many European operators are up against it, in the sense that Cable with DOCSIS 3.O and 3.1 is surging ahead. They look like they will be moving to G.Fast” – Peter White, Faultlines

“Copper represents an installed infrastructure worth trillions and too expensive to just replace. Fiber is too expensive to use it to replace all the copper. FTTH DSL and G.fast, the copper works in many cases and does not need to be replaced. xDSL markets will be strong for some long time to come as copper remains a transport line. Copper based broadband is and will remain for the foreseeable future, the dominant broadband access technology across the globe. Broadband service providers who rely on copper loops for broadband access have to improve broadband performance and extend its life.” – Susan Eustis, President and CEO, WinterGreen Research

“G.fast provides the ability to leverage outdated copper infrastructure to breathe new life into existing investment. This market is evolving as new G.fast technology and vectoring are implemented. Growth in this market based on technical breakthroughs and innovation. Technology platforms are rapidly evolving.” – Susan Eustis, President and CEO, WinterGreen Research

“Approval of G.fast digital subscriber line (DSL) technology is an early Christmas present for the telephone industry. It potentially offers tremendous advantages for these companies, which are facing ever-tougher competition from cable MSOs, Google Fiber – and other independent providers – and wireless operators. G.fast gives further life to the massive amount of legacy copper cabling that dominates the last mile of telephone networks.” – Carl Weinschenk, Senior Editor of Broadband Technology Report

“G.fast once again extends the life of telco copper, or at least the most-expensive-to-upgrade portion of the telco copper plant (that closest to the end user). While VDSL2, vectoring and bonding technologies also enable telcos to deliver higher speeds – even “fiber” speeds – and expand their serving areas, G.fast’s ability to support 1 Gbps is a game-changer.

How? G.fast gives telcos the ability to compete very effectively over the long term with cable operators, which have collectively and cooperatively (via CableLabs) been developing an array of technologies designed to compete with FTTH (including DOCSIS 3.1, CCAP) while still leveraging their hybrid fiber-coax (HFC) networks. DOCSIS 3.1 will deliver 10 Gbps per node downstream, giving

G.fast Media Primer


cable operators a strong counter-punch to existing VDSL2/vectoring-based offerings from telcos. The end result is that through true intermodal competition (telco vs. cable), consumers will benefit as rival operators escalate their connectivity speeds, with G.fast and its Gigabit capability enabling telcos to likewise counter DOCSIS 3.1-based cable offerings.

And what about the FTTH option? With G.fast, telcos will still be required to make an investment in “deep fiber” – but FTTdp/G.fast deployments are projected to be a lot less expensive than full-fiber FTTH network builds.” – Erik Keith, Current Analysis

“That suggests a feasible U.S. market size for G.fast of over 105 million customers, including households and businesses. If projections from G.fast modem chipmaker Sckipio are accurate, and customers could save as much as $1,200 each in installation costs over FTTH, G.fast could reduce the total cost of deploying gigabit service to every household in America by $126.5 billion.” - Scott M. Fulton, III, Editor, Fierce Enterprise Communications

“When marketing to telcos, proponents of broadband twisted-pair technologies assume that unsubsidized urban and suburban FTTH networks, such as Verizon’s FiOS, are running out of steam owing to trenching and right-of-way costs. Sckipio avoids positioning G.fast directly against vectored VDSL2, and it allowed that many customers can benefit from 200Mbps performance. Assuming, however, that consumers demand UltraHD or 8K HD—which requires 500Mbps of bandwidth for a single stream—G.fast will be the only suitable twisted-pair technology.” – Loring Wirbel, Linley Group

G.fast Media Primer


ABOUT SCKIPIO

Sckipio is the leader in G.fast modems and is dedicated to delivering ultra-broadband using next-generation G.fast-based Fiber-to-the-distribution point (FTTdp) architectures. Sckipio offers a complete G.fast solution – chipsets bundled with software – for a variety of access and mobile backhaul applications based on the ITU G.fast G.9700 and G.9701 standards, to which Sckipio is a leading contributor.

Founded by a veteran team of communications experts with deep experience in broadband access and home networking solutions, and backed by leading venture capitalists, Sckipio is well positioned to win the market for the next-generation of broadband access solutions.

Sckipio firsts:

• First to focus solely on G.fast modems

• First to announce and ship real G.fast chipsets

• First to demonstrate G.fast running across 16 lines with vectoring

• First to demonstrate reverse power driving a G.fast DPU

• First to demonstrate UltraHD and pay TV services

• First to demonstrate SDN technology such as OpenFlow

For more information about Sckipio, visit our website at www.sckipio.com.