LF Broadband Drives Development and Adoption of Open Source Broadband Transforming Disaggregated PON Architectures

Initiative announces vendors, telecom providers, and researchers as members; plus new software releases and deployments; as well as election of leaders from Deutsche Telekom and Türk Telekom as new governing board co-chairs

SAN FRANCISCO – JULY 25, 2024 – The Linux Foundation is excited to announce the formation of LF Broadband, an open and collaborative initiative driving innovation in open source broadband access. LF Broadband supports a collection of projects that are transforming broadband networks and the Passive Optical Network (PON) industry, including the SEBA reference design for building open broadband networks, and the VOLTHA open source project for virtualizing multi-vendor PON systems. These projects previously were hosted by the Open Networking Foundation, and now with the Linux Foundation.

Formation of the LF Broadband Directed Fund
The LF Broadband Directed Fund was established recently as an independent fund under the Linux Foundation, with the goal of supporting broadband related open source projects in deployment with Deutsche Telekom, Türk Telekom, and more. LF Broadband was born out of the Open Networking Foundation (ONF), which transitioned into the Linux Foundation in late 2023. Former ONF projects were split into three directed funds following the merger: LF Broadband, Aether, and P4. Supported by leading telecom, networking and broadband providers, LF Broadband projects are open source, with open interfaces, and future-proof designs based on cloud native architecture. Initial members supporting the formation of LF Broadband include Adtran, Deutsche Telekom, Digital Platforms, Excelacom, Iowa State University, Netsia, Radisys, Türk Telekom, Universidad de Burgos, and ZTE.

New Executive Director 
Arpit Joshipura has been appointed Executive Director of LF Broadband. Joshipura serves as General Manager of Networking and Orchestration at the Linux Foundation, and oversees other subfoundations such as LF Networking and LF Edge.

"Just as open source drove the 5G transition in telecommunications core and edge stacks, it is also driving the next generation of broadband network technologies,” said Joshipura. “LF Broadband provides a neutral forum for vendors, end users, and researchers to collaborate on the solutions necessary to drive transformed broadband networks and the Passive Optical Network industry.”

New Governing Board Co-Chairs
Ahmet Fethi Ayhan of Türk Telekom and Manuel Paul of Deutsche Telekom have been elected as co-chairs of the LF Broadband Governing Board. Other governing board members are Bora Eliacik of Netsia and Robert Soukup of Radisys. The governing board oversees the strategic direction of LF Broadband, and approves all spending on behalf of the organization.

Current LF Broadband Initiatives
LF Broadband's open source broadband projects and initiatives provide:

• Proven solutions in production (Türk Telekom, Deutsche Telekom) 
• Multi-vendor platform which supports a broad portfolio of ecosystem vendors, and prevents vendor lock-in
• Multi-protocol, centralized network management and SDN control plane supporting existing and new OLTs and ONUs
• The only open and disaggregated solution in production
• Significant TCO savings (CAPEX 20-40% lower, OPEX 10-20% lower) 
  
  

Initial projects under LF Broadband include VOLTHA and SEBA. VOLTHA provides common control & management for PON networks (OLTs and ONUs) and supports open-hardware based as well as traditional (chassis-based) OLTs with different OLT adapters. VOLTHA has a highly scalable microservice architecture, using VOLTHA stacks, tested for tens of thousands of ONUs. 

VOLTHA has been deployed live in production environments by Deutsche Telekom and Türk Telekom. Multiple other operators have VOLTHA-based solutions in various stages of lab trials and field trials. VOLTHA v.2.12 was recently released, offering robustness, device management enhancements and support for additional subscriber profiles driven by operator requirements. Enhancements in this version include support for voice service profiles; improved error handling and recovery; management interface improvements for logging, alarms and attributes received from OLTs; observability infrastructure enhancements related to OLT metrics; and test infrastructure stabilization.

SEBA (SDN-Enabled Broadband Access) is a reference design  for supporting broadband access with minimal prescription of technology choices, intended to support network and feature needs of multiple operators with a common architecture. Supporting both residential access and wireless backhaul, SEBA serves as foundational architecture for VOLTHA. SEBA is deployed in production by Türk Telekom.

Supporting Quotes from LF Broadband Members

Deutsche Telekom
“Deutsche Telekom is leveraging the VOLTHA framework as a key building block of our Access 4.0 network transformation program. As we continue our journey towards disaggregated and radically automated networks, we are pleased to serve and contribute to this community-led work in collaboration with peer industry & standards organizations, most importantly the Broadband Forum, under the Linux Foundation umbrella.” - Manuel Paul, Squad Lead Network Convergence, Deutsche Telekom

Turk Telekom
"Türk Telekom has been a trailblazer in advocating for open-source technologies VOLTHA and SEBA, which enable the virtualization of access networks. Pioneering efforts in standardization, reference design leadership, and product development, Türk Telekom has elevated these technologies beyond mere trials, establishing the world’s first and largest live open-source-based (SEBA based) access network. Continuing to lead globally with an executive-level role at LF Broadband, Türk Telekom promises stronger progress through LF collaboration, aiding more operators in recognizing the true potential of these technologies. We take pride in being part of this community." - Ahmet Fethi Ayhan, Network Director, Türk Telekom

Radisys
“Radisys is proud to be part of the LF Broadband initiative, which fosters a collaborative environment for developing next-generation broadband solutions. By supporting projects like VOLTHA and SEBA, we are able to contribute to a more open, collaborative, and innovative broadband ecosystem.” - Prakash Siva, SVP and Head of Technology and Architecture, Radisys

Netsia
“Netsia’s involvement in LF Broadband highlights our commitment to advancing open source broadband technologies. LF Broadband's focus on open interfaces and cloud-native architectures aligns perfectly with our vision of delivering scalable and flexible network solutions that meet the evolving demands of the industry.” - Bora Eliacik, CEO, Netsia

LF Broadband is committed to supporting the development and adoption of open source broadband. To learn more about LF Broadband, including how to contribute to the community and become a member, please visit https://lfbroadband.org/.

How to Get Involved:

• Join the LF Broadband VOLTHA Mailing List
• Subscribe to the LF Broadband Newsletter
• Follow LF Broadband on X
• Follow LF Broadband on LinkedIn
• Follow LF Broadband on YouTube
• Become a Member

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About LF Broadband
The LF Broadband Directed Fund was established in late 2023 as an independent fund under the Linux Foundation. LF Broadband supports a collection of projects that transformed broadband networks and the Passive Optical Network (PON) industry, including the SEBA reference design for building open broadband networks, and the VOLTHA open source project for virtualizing multi-vendor PON systems. Learn more at https://lfbroadband.org/. 

Media Contact

Noah Lehman

The Linux Foundation

nlehman@linuxfoundation.org