Gatespace eco-system advantage

For All Things TR-069


	Eco-System Advantage
	Device manufacturers and service providers considering specifying Gatespace components must inevitably consider the pros and cons of building the same components in-house vs. joining an eco-system in which major components are available from multiple sources and the major suppliers are motivated to compete based on product quality and innovation.
	CPE Manufacturer’s Perspective
	Maximize Competitive Position When prospective customers require TR-069 that requirement is mandatory. Partial compliance is not a defendable position. The only acceptable response to an RFP is full compliance for the base (standardized) device functions and all vendor specific extensions. Compliance is best demonstrated by showing that the same software is already deployed and inter-operating with a major ACS provider. The Gatespace CWMP Client is available for all of the chip sets being used by major gateway device manufacturers. Consequently, a new device immediately inherits all the WAN facing characteristics, including standards compliance, of the mature software. Time to market is minimized by reducing the scale of development to the mapping of the native device software to the TR-069 data model with a series of getter/setter functions. The majority of these functions are simple, however, some functions can be very difficult to map while retaining the operational integrity of the device. In these cases the experience and expertise Gatespace can be used to quickly identify challenging areas and rapidly develop solutions. Many devices are offered with leading edge features that have yet to be standardized in TR-069. The standard accommodates these cases by allowing the data model to be extended for vendor-specific features. The Gatespace CWMP Client data model is easily, and routinely, extended to incorporate any number of such extensions. Minimize Cost of In-House Staffing Developing and maintaining CWMP Client software requires a significant and ongoing commitment to maintaining a team with an intimate knowledge of the standards and relationships with ACS manufacturers to continually verify inter-operability. Disbanding and reconstituting such a team in response to intermittent demand as old product lines are updated and new product lines developed is not a practical proposition because of the steep learning curve. By selecting Gatespace to provide this technology the device manufacturer can limit in-house expertise to a high-level conceptual understanding of TR-069 for product planners and assign the development/maintenance of getter/setter functions to the existing software development teams. The device manufacturer can look to Gatespace for specialized TR-069 knowledge and guidance with confidence that our business objectives are fully aligned as our success is entirely dependent on our performance and units shipped by our customers. Rapid Response to Changing Requirements Changes to requirements occur for a number of reasons: evolution of the standard specification; introduction of vendor specific features; and conforming to a service provider’s non-standard specification. In the cases of evolving standards and vendor specific feature, changes can normally be anticipated and planned into an orderly release cycle. Non-standard specifications from service providers are usually inherited from the existing pool of devices and/or the existing ACS. Thee situations, though not very common, can be important to the device manufacturer. When requested by the device manufacturer, Gatespace seeks to offer solutions to non-standard requirements within the time frame of the bidding process.
	Service Provider’s Perspective
	Service providers operating with multiple device types procured over an extended period require the common management infrastructure provided by TR-069. Inevitably the core management software and gateway resident applications evolves with time. The eco-system makes the unbundling of hardware and software a practical proposition allowing service providers to separate device hardware and software procurement and ensure that management software and gateway-resident applications are sourced with ongoing support. Access to Value Added Applications Gateway resident applications represent a significant source of potential revenue. Developing this new source of revenue requires access to the applications proper and management support of the applications within the gateway. Gatespace offers the applications and/or support for applications through vendor specific extensions in the CMWP Client data model. Minimize Risk of Non-Conforming Devices Conformance to TR-069 can be difficult for the small to medium sixed service provider to establish or enforce. Areas of non-conformance may lay hidden until a particular feature is exercised by which time the offending device may be in a questionable support status. Specifying the Gatespace CWMP Client ensures that all features have been well tested by Gatespace but more importantly by a community of users with diverse operational characteristics. Cross Device Vendor Consistency Cross vendor consistency becomes important as device configuration moves away from the device-resident web interface to network-based servers. The primary motivation to move to network-based configuration is the reduction of end-user created errors. A secondary motivation is the creation of a house style for configuration tools so that the end-user experience is independent of the device model/manufacturer allowing resources to be applied to improving the configuration process as opposed to supporting numerous tool variants. Achieving cross vendor consistency is simplified when the network-based configuration tool(s) interface with a common CWMP Client validating configuration change requests in a consistent manner. Separation of Hardware and Software Procurement Cycles Gateway hardware has a much longer life cycle than gateway software. The TR-069 eco-system offers the possibility of separating hardware and software procurement in a way that ensures that the gateway device is not prematurely marginalized for lack of up-to-date software. The highest risk of marginalization occurs in the area of value added applications that the service provider may wish to install. Separating procurement of the CWMP Client from the Hardware and core software of the device can allow the service provider to avoid device marginalization.