MUNICH – Genexis, a European FTTH home gateway supplier that recently bought PacketFront’s customer-premises equipment business, introduced a gateway that follows the PacketFront design and announced that four European network operators were already deploying it.
Unlike conventional home gateways, which consist of a single box containing both network and service functions, Genexis’ Hybrid gateway separates the service part from the network part. The result is a modular product that enables end users to pick and choose their own broadband services.
“The Hybrid works much like an app on a mobile phone,” says Gerlas van den Hoven, CEO of Genexis. “The end-user himself selects the service module or app of his choice and simply clicks it onto the FTTH network. This new embodiment of the home gateway gives the end user a real choice and at the same time saves the FTTH network operator a visit to the end user to perform the installation.”
The Hybrid home gateway consists of three parts. The first layer includes fiber termination designed for ease of installation, the second layer enables network termination independent of network technology, and the third layer provides services. This layering enables the gateway to support point-to-point Ethernet, GPON and WDM-PON on the network layer and at the same time offers a host of user functionalities such as gigabit routing, high-speed wireless, USB 2.0/3.0 and more.
“The first reactions from our customers have been overwhelming,” says Luuk Pals, vice president for sales and new business at Genexis. “During the development, the Hybrid product was immediately embraced. I am happy to announce that Dutch FTTH operators Reggefiber, CAIW and Cogas, as well as [Icelandic operator] Gagnaveita, are commencing deployment of the Hybrid.”
