HGI, an organisation for publishing requirements for the digital home, has published an updated specification for improving Quality of Service (QoS) through the Home Gateway.
HGI _RD027-R3, “Home Gateway QoS Module Requirements” addresses the current evolution of the home network to an IPv6 environment, and identifies the Home Gateway requirements needed to extend the HGI service-class oriented QoS approach to include IPv6.
Duncan Bees, chief technology officer for HGI, said: “HGI has identified how service providers can classify data traffic passing through the home gateway and provide appropriate treatment to each service class.”
Bees added: “Our previous publications on QoS have had a significant impact in influencing the home networking strategies taken by service providers worldwide. The new specification will likely have a similar impact as IPv6 networks are rolled out. ”
The document is applicable to IPv4 and IPv6 networks on both the WAN and LAN sides of the Home Gateway. The strategy of using the Home Gateway as a key QoS enforcement point allows the service provider to designate service classes and their treatment based on a rich set of classification criteria, including the IPv4 and IPv6 headers.
It takes a real-world approach that considers the actual QoS problems in various broadband scenarios, considering not just value-added services but also OTT services, and other traffic types.
David Thorne, chief broadband and access strategist, BT innovate and design, and HGI board member, added: “The document has been created thanks to the help of service providers through their HGI membership. It will enable them to maintain the quality of their current value-added services, like voice and video, while also supporting new Smart Home applications such as healthcare. The new specification will become part of the 2013 HGI test programme.”
