CONNEXUS
The Nexus for Mobile + Fixed Convergence
01. Introduction
A New Era of Connectivity
con·ver·gence
noun
the process of harmonizing, unifying
The broadband industry stands on the precipice of a new era. Although network convergence has been occurring for well over a decade, we now have the foundational technologies to begin merging mobile and broadband networks. Enabling convergence benefits both operators and end-users.
Connexus and Convergence
Connexus is a multi-faceted collaborative initiative designed to facilitate industry alignment around network convergence so that we can start transforming concepts into practical everyday uses. To realize the vision of a truly connected future, Connexus is crucial to facilitate industry alignment.
With convergence, it will be possible to dynamically signal the converged core so that connectivity can be tailored automatically per user, per device, or even per application. This is customized experience excellence.
The industry has been talking about convergence for a long time. What’s exciting about this CableLabs initiative is that the foundational technologies now exist for us to make this real, and the focus on the customer experience is the right guiding principle.
The advantages of convergent networks is clear, and the strong benefit to our customers is equally clear. We will simplify the consumption of new services, regardless of the underlying infrastructure. With the adoption of the ‘Network as a Platform’ approach, we make the underlying networks invisible to our customers.
With Xfinity Mobile, Comcast has taken its leading connectivity experience outside the home and given our customers the ability to access the Internet from anywhere. As we look toward a future with more integrated experiences across all of our services, we’re excited to work with CableLabs toward the virtualization and convergence that will help make that a reality.
We believe that bringing together a common vision and strategy in wireless, cable infrastructure and—most important—customer experience is critical to moving the industry forward. As members of CableLabs, we’re very pleased to participate in the Mobile Convergence Committee to help simplify converged solutions and bring new experiences to customers.
Cable access digitization and transition to cloud is a ripe environment for bandwidth-rich solutions. Intelligence and convergence will enable myriad end-to-end services and a seamless user experience.
Cable providers will play a critical role in the era of 5G and the edge. Convergence is essential for ensuring consistent service and persistent connectivity.
The time for convergence is now, as we can leverage key building blocks like virtualization, network disaggregation, open interfaces and multi-access edge computing, automation, along with artificial intelligence and machine learning, to manage network complexities.
The future of convergence and mobile access networks will be to lean forward toward virtualized and disaggregated platforms. These platforms will be flexible and maximize user and enterprise experience. This will create great opportunities between cable operators and mobile operators to cooperate in many ways in the 5G era. Leveraging transport platforms and utilizing common technologies are strong opportunities for greater cooperation between different types of operators that minimize the total cost of ownership."
