Calix is first systems vendor to achieve end-to-end solution certification from DPU to Gfast modem

PETALUMA, CA – June 21, 2017 – Calix, Inc. (NYSE: CALX), the world leader in Subscriber Driven Intelligent Access, today announced that the AXOS E5-16F Gfast Node and the 801F GigaPoint are the first end-to-end solutions to be successfully certified as part of the inaugural Gfast certification program from the Broadband Forum (BBF) and the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL). In addition, for multi-vendor Gfast interoperability, the AXOS E5-16F was certified in a pairing with CPE from Arris. This inaugural certification is an important milestone for the industry, signaling market readiness for certified end-to-end and multi-vendor deployment, and underpins the ability for service providers to leverage their existing copper infrastructure to deliver a gigabit experience to subscribers. Calix has been involved in the development of the certification program at the BBF since its inception, helping to establish the interoperability of Gfast vendors, and is proud to be part of the first certification wave. With this foundation in place, Calix AXOS enabled anyPHY™ capabilities allow the company to stand ready to rapidly address future enhancements to Gfast technology and quickly move through certification.

Even before the announcement of this first wave of certified Gfast products, Calix had already seen strong service provider interest in Gfast. Calix is the global leader in Gfast deployments, with over 60 service providers delivering AXOS Gfast services to their subscribers, as well as North America’s largest Gfast deployment at CenturyLink. With the completion of the first BBF Gfast certifications, the momentum behind this groundbreaking technology is only poised to accelerate. 

 

“Every service provider in the world has multi-dwelling unit (MDU) buildings in its service area, and most of these locations are ideal candidates for Gfast technology,” said Robert Balsamo, Calix vice president of advanced architecture standards. “With powerful tools like AXOS Sandbox, an edge-to-edge virtual environment that allows service providers to immediately begin back office integration even before any physical units are shipped, companies can immediately jumpstart their Gfast deployments. Previously, a symmetrical gigabit experience was limited to service providers delivering fiber access technologies, but with BBF certified Gfast and complementary Calix technologies like cDTA and bonding, it is now available to subscribers fed by copper and coaxial cable too.”

 

For years, Calix has been a leading contributor to Gfast and VDSL2 interop and certification at the BBF. Calix engineer Martin Casey has been honored by the BBF with its Circle of Excellence Award for his leadership in interoperability test plans for both technologies, while fellow engineer Marta Seda of Calix was recently honored as an Outstanding Contributor by the BBF. Now that a certification program is in place and producing results, service providers can greatly mitigate their deployment risks while at the same time expect to bring services to market faster based on certified products. Additionally, certification avoids extensive service provider testing before purchase, accelerating time-to-revenue and subscriber satisfaction.

 

A video highlighting the value of Gfast certification can be viewed here: https://community.calix.com/t5/Calix-Blog/Driving-G-fast-to-the-Mass-Market-Through-Interoperability-and/ba-p/39782.