Broadband Industry Leaders Launch GiGA Wire Alliance to Enable Ultra-Broadband Services over Existing Copper Networks

GiGA Wire Alliance will include Service Providers, Equipment Manufacturers and Silicon Vendors developing Gigabit Broadband Access solutions that leverage ITU-T G.hn standard

London, United Kingdom, October 18, 2016

News highlights:

• Industry leaders launch GiGA Wire Alliance with the goal of promoting worldwide adoption of Gigabit FTTdp/FTTB broadband access solutions powered by the ITU-T G.hn standard.
• GiGA Wire solutions are based on the open G.hn standard, which enables service provider to use any in-building copper infrastructure (phone lines, UTP cables and coaxial cables) to deliver Gigabit services without the high cost associated with installing new optical fiber.
• GiGA Wire Alliance will serve as forum for sharing best practices, ensuring standard compliance and interoperability, and collaborating with existing standards organizations.

This week at Broadband World Forum (London) the GiGA Wire Alliance is exhibiting for the first time as a unified industry effort, with Korea Telecom, Marvell, Ubiquoss and Lightworks as initial members. The GiGA Wire Alliance has been created with the goal of establishing a broad ecosystem of vendors and service providers working together to deliver the next-generation of copper-based gigabit broadband access networks. By using the open G.hn standard, service providers can leverage existing copper infrastructure in Multi-Dwelling Units (MDUs) to deliver advanced services such as 4K/8K IPTV, Virtual Reality or Cloud storage. Members of the GiGA Wire Alliance will benefit from sharing experiences and ensure interoperability of platforms from different vendors that focus on Gigabit Broadband Access deployment.

The announcement comes only 4 months after Korea Telecom unveiled in July 2016 its GiGA Internet deployment capable of supporting over 1 Gbps to any customer over single-pair phoneline or two-pair UTP cabling. Korea Telecom first launched the GiGA Wire technology services in Korea back in 2014 using first generation G.hn silicon.

Over the last 2 years, service providers in several parts of the world have learned from KT’s experience in making use of both existing network assets and new acceleration technologies to bring faster speeds more cost effectively and much sooner than with traditional FTTH (fiber-to-the-home) rollouts. Following Korea’s example, a range of successful deployments have been announced in Spain, Turkey and many other countries around the world, with Internet speeds improved to 10 times faster than VDSL-based connectivity.

Using the latest version of the G.hn standard, GiGA Wire platforms can deliver line rates up to 2 Gigabits/second, enabling the same range of services as traditional FTTH. Service Providers deploying GiGA Wire platforms can benefit from multi-vendor interoperability, with systems that are specifically optimized for carrier requirements such as multicast IPTV, cloud-based management or dynamic bandwidth allocation.

The flexibility of the G.hn standard allows GiGA Wire implementations to adapt to different network topologies, ranging from high-density MDUs with hundreds of subscribers, to single-port solutions that enable cost-effective “Pay As You Grow” deployment models. GiGA Wire platforms can operate over single-pair phone line, two-pair UTP and coaxial cables (both in point-to-point and point-to-multipoint configurations), providing unprecedented levels of flexibility to service providers.

Dr. Dongmyun Lee, head of the Institute of Convergence Technology in KT, said, “ As the world’s first service provider to deliver Giga Internet and GiGA Wire solutions, KT has now established a solid foothold as an ICT leader in the world market. We value our partnership with Ubiquoss and Lightworks to promote the ecosystem of GiGA Wire through Creative Economy and Innovation for Small and Medium Sized (SMEs) companies in Korea to enter global market.”

Chano Gómez, Senior Director of Broadband Solutions at Marvell said: “The G.hn standard is currently the most mature and cost-effective option to deliver gigabit broadband services over exiting in-home and in-building copper networks, with millions of G.hn chips shipping annually. The convergence of in-home and in-building networking enabled by G.hn ensures the economies of scale required to sustain rapid silicon innovation cycles that benefit consumers and service providers.”

This week the GiGA Wire Alliance is displaying multiple demonstrations of G.hn-based GiGA Wire solutions at Broadband World Forum in London’s ExCel Centre, from 18-20 October, 2016 at Booth D42.

For sending your expression of interest to join the GiGA Wire Alliance, please contact the GiGA Wire Alliance by email at info@gigawire-alliance.org

About GiGA Wire Alliance
 

GiGA Wire Alliance is an industry alliance dedicated to enabling next-generation copper access networks that leverage the open G.hn standard to deliver faster-than-gigabit broadband services. The Alliance brings together service providers, equipment vendors and silicon vendors working together to create an ecosystem that ensure continuous improvement of GiGA Wire technology. The Alliance members are focused on helping service providers leverage existing in-building copper infrastructure (phone lines, UTP cables and coaxial cables) to deploy broadband networks at a fraction of the cost of traditional FTTH deployments. The Alliance leverages existing standards and specification developed by well-known organizations such as ITU-T, Broadband Forum and HomeGrid Forum.

For more information on GiGA Wire Alliance, please visit our website at www.gigawire-alliance.org.