TR-369 USP’s Rapid Ground Gaining and How It Can Add Value to Telcos

A lot has happened since Broadband Forum defined Technical Report 069 (TR-069) for remote management of CPE in May 2004.

Since then, the world has become increasingly connected, and the demand for updated, agile management standards suitable for a wide range of “things” emerged. Broadband Forum recognized the pressing need and defined TR-369 USP – a modern, light, and secure standard designed to support the evolution of connected devices.

USP is a new standard, quickly gaining ground. It builds upon the field-proven TR-069 but is lighter, faster, and enables a broader range of use-cases.

USP Supported Use-Cases

• Wi-Fi Experience Management – USP helps Service Providers tackle one of the most significant customer experience challenges – home Wi-Fi network congestion. USP enables flexible transport mechanisms, multi-controller architecture, and standardized Wi-Fi management objects.
• Data Collection – USP enables accessible telemetry data collection that can be used by third parties for advanced data analytics, AI, and machine learning.
• Unified IoT Device Management – USP unifies IP and non-IP protocols (e.g., ZigBee, Zwave) and enables unified bootstrap and device lifecycle management.
• Self-Support – USP standard enables end-user devices to function as Controllers and enable end-user self-support functionality without dependence on cloud resources.
• Security – USP enables protocol-level encryption and application-level security

TR-369 USP Architecture

The TR-369 USP consists of a network of Controllers and Agents. The multiple control points can access the Agent. USP includes mechanisms for discovery, trust establishment, secure end-to-end communication, and access control mechanisms to limit Controllers’ permissions to those services they are permitted to view or manipulate.

Multiple Transport Types

While in TR-069, the primary Message Transport Protocol is HTTP, TR-369 USP supports multiple transport types – CoAP, WebSockets over HTTP, STOMP, and MQTT.

Future-Proofing the Deployments

With the accelerated technological advances, it is crucial to ensure that the IoT/ Smart Home Management platforms are future-proof. USP supports the flexibility in its use cases and features. It can be expanded to new uses and technologies and is not tied to a specific technology that can limit the solution to a single use-case.

TR-069 Compatibility

This is an extremely important value for carriers and service providers with previously-installed TR-069 solutions. USP is a natural evolution of TR-069 that enables a co-existence with the existing TR-069 platforms. Making use of the Device:2 data model, USP allows straightforward migration from legacy TR-069 device management solutions to USP or leveraging existing TR-069 ACS solutions enabling new services with USP. The investment is leveraged, not lost.

The Friendly TR-369 USP Solution

Friendly’s TR-369 USP is an integrated solution for the implementation and management of connected devices. The solution leverages the TR-069 protocol specification and enables carriers and CSPs to transform consumer broadband networks into flexible and secure IoT-enabled solutions.

Carrier-Grade USP solutions vs. Open-Source solutions

Friendly Technologies is a principal member of Broadband Forum and is actively collaborating and contributing to the standard’s development. Friendly’s years of experience in building and improving Device Management platforms resulted in a deep understanding of what is expected of a carrier-grade USP solution.

Friendly Technologies is currently preparing to launch its TR-369 USP Agent, after being approached by hardware manufacturers looking to add USP compatibility to their connected devices.

Contact us to learn more about Friendly’s TR-369 USP Solution and TR-369 USP Agent.