Broadband Forum, HomeGrid Forum unlock G.hn Access certification benefits

Collaboration between Broadband Forum and HomeGrid Forum has helped unlock greater interoperability and gigabit plus performance for service providers, as the two leading standards development organizations have jointly developed a GHNA (G.hn Access) Certification Program.

The GHNA Certification Program is designed to combine Broadband Forum-based performance testing with HomeGrid Forum-based compliance and interoperability testing for access equipment implementing the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) G.hn standard (ITU-T G.996x series).

“The new collaboration will have widespread ramifications to benefit broadband players across the industry,” HomeGrid Forum President Livia Rosu said. “Thanks to the new GHNA Certification Program, service providers will have the confidence to undertake and accelerate effective service deployments with highly performant, interoperable and standard-compliant G.hn Access certified systems that have been awarded both the Broadband Forum and HomeGrid Forum stamp of approval.”

GHNA Certification, which is available through either the Broadband Forum or the HomeGrid Forum, is comprised of two parts, Part A with compliance and interoperability testing (“GiGAWire™ testing”) specified by the HomeGrid Forum, and Part B with performance testing (“BBF.GHNA testing”) specified by the Broadband Forum and ongoing work in TR-476. G.hn Access equipment that successfully passes both parts is granted the official certification logo and certificate on behalf of both organizations.

G.hn Access deployment options are capitalizing on complementary architectures to extend fiber networks with phoneline and coax-based Point-to-Point (P2P) and Point-to-Multipoint (P2MP) infrastructure and topologies. By leveraging G.hn technology through existing wires, service providers can cost-effectively provide last mile infrastructure in areas where optical fiber cannot be deployed all the way to the customer premises.

“Service providers have been leveraging G.hn Access technology for addressing MDUs, SFUs and a variety of complicated fiber extension scenarios to deliver multi-Gigabit Internet over coax and phonelines,” Vice President of the HomeGrid Forum and LUMEN Director Strategic Innovation Tom Barnett said. “We worked very closely with GiGAWire™ system vendors to pre-test and solve service delivery challenges. The launch of the G.hn Access certification is designed to accelerate our deployments with pre-approved system vendors.”

“Combining both organizations’ expertise in G.hn technology with Broadband Forum’s experience in performance testing and HomeGrid Forum’s experience in interoperability and compliance, means that the wider industry as a whole is set to benefit,” Broadband Forum Vice President Dr. Aleksandra Kozarev said. “The next steps of our collaboration will see the first vendors pass our BBF.GHNA beta trials, to be held at University of New Hampshire Interoperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) during the week of 26th September 2022, which coupled with GiGAWire testing will lead to GHNA certification.”