RtBrick: A year in review
A look back at the many successes of 2021 and our wishes for 2022
As we move into 2022 and look back to 2021, what a journey it has been. This year has been like no other, especially after experiencing unprecedented changes within society and our own industry (and many others) due to the Covid-19 pandemic – this will be the one and only reference in this blog post, we promise. We pulled through together, as one, and demonstrated that we can accomplish so much by continuing to be resilient, innovative, and motivated - even when all the chips are down.
As a company, we’ve seen a lot this year, from new partnerships, product launches, and a whole host of awards in recognition of our achievements! We wanted to take a moment to reflect on these, celebrate a little, and outline our vision for the coming year.
Innovations The telecoms industry is built on the back of innovation. We’re a sector leading the charge in speed, efficiency, latency, and infrastructure, which is why we’re so proud to have been behind many innovative projects this year.
At the start of the year we announced that our IP routing software now supports a new Consolidated BNG (Broadband Network Gateway) making it ideal to run in more remote locations, allowing us to support more use-cases for our customers. We also helped improve efficiency by updating our Management API for our disaggregated routing software. This simplified the integration with existing OSS and BSS systems, dramatically reducing the amount of time and effort required to make disaggregated networks operational by using widely adopted industry tools and programming languages.
The jumps in efficiency didn’t stop there because in July we set a new benchmark in Internet routing, delivering route convergence on a disaggregated network that was at least as fast as anything that had been seen on traditional proprietary systems. And in the same month we announced a partnership with Delta Electronics to create the first disaggregated OpenBNG.
To round off the year we partnered with UfiSpace to develop broadband and mobile solutions starting with an Open BNG and added support for the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) to our pioneering Broadband Network Gateway (BNG) routing software.
You could say we’ve been a bit busy!
We’ve made some friends too The new partnerships and alliances forged this year are crucial to us and the industry. First off, we announced our support for the Telecom Infra Project's Open BNG initiative. Open BNG is a standard that was created by the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) to develop open, disaggregated broadband network gateways.
We’ve since been shortlisted alongside seven other vendors, for disaggregated BNG telco trials by a group of top telcos that are running a programme at the Telecom Infra Project’s (TIP) latest entity, the Fixed Broadband Project Group. BT, Deutsche Telekom, Telecom Italia, Telefónica and Vodafone have been working on the project, having issued an OpenBNG RFI in July this year. A huge achievement for RtBrick and we’re excited to start working with the operators and put our expertise to the test.
During the past year we’ve also become a principal member of the Broadband Forum, an association of service providers and vendors that drives new innovation and open standards in the broadband industry. The Broadband Forum’s mission is to unlock the potential for new markets and profitable revenue growth by leveraging new technologies. By joining the forum we’re able to provide leadership and share our experience to the broadband community.
Awards galore 2021 was the winningest (yes, this is a real word) year for RtBrick. In total we were involved in nine different awards, being shortlisted for five and winning a further four.
We’re immensely proud of being shortlisted for the Carrier Community Global Awards, National Technology Awards, Global Carrier Awards, Leading Lights Awards and the Fierce Telecom Awards. We did happen to win a couple as well.
First up, our Founder and CEO Pravin S Bhandarkar was listed in Capacity Magazine’s 2021 “Power 100” list. Our very own VP of Marketing, Richard Brandon, was also included in Light Reading’s 2021 “Broadband 50 to watch” list. Two great accolades showcasing the kind of talent and passion we have at the helm of RtBrick.
Alongside those personnel victories we also secured wider company wins at the Broadband World Forum Awards 2021 in the Best “Fibre Access Solution of the Year: Innovator” category, as well as a win in the “Fixed Network Evolution” category at the Glotel Awards 2021.
Now, we just need to find someone to help put up a shelf for all the trophies…
The highlight of the year With all that in mind there is one defining announcement from earlier in the year, that we can’t forget to mention. This was the news that Deutsche Telekom had connected the first live customer to its disaggregated broadband network. The network used routing software from RtBrick, running on bare-metal switch hardware, to deliver up to 1000Mbps of internet connectivity. The first subscriber was connected to an exchange in Stuttgart, Germany.
The routing software acts as the BNG in Deutsche Telekom’s network, which terminates broadband subscriber traffic, along with providing other functions, such as quality of service, lawful intercept and IPTV.
This set us up for the many successes that followed, and we hope that we’ll continue to do so in the same fashion.
A message to you and our wishes for 2022
“I am immensely proud of the hard work we’ve all put in this year. I think we’ve all proven to the wider industry and ourselves that we’re a company to keep an eye on, and one not afraid to put up a good fight. I’d like to thank you all for your hard work, ideas, and commitment to making RtBrick one of the best places to work for and with this past year. 2022 is going to be a crucial year for us as we aim to take our vision to bigger heights, continue to improve our offerings and grow the team. Thank you and I wish you all happy holidays” - Pravin S Bhandarkar
“What a year it has been! Kudos to the entire team including our brilliant engineers spread across the world. You’ve been essential in taking our vision from paper to reality, continuing to be creative and forward-thinking in your approach. It’s why we’ve been recognised as one the best companies to watch out for this year and why so many of our products continue to win big industry awards. I’m so excited for what we can do in 2022 and can’t wait to see us aim even higher! Happy holidays to all and here’s to a fantastic new year” – Hannes Gredler