The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) is the official testing laboratory for the Broadband Forum Gfast Certification. Gfast is a broadband access technology that deploys faster bandwidth speeds by extending fiber to existing copper wiring infrastructure. The UNH-IOL’s Gfast Certification program was announced earlier this summer with the listing of the first seven certified products.
Service providers worldwide are deploying Gfast to deliver gigabit Ethernet faster over existing wiring, bringing ultrafast broadband to more users, significantly reducing the cost of the final connection into a home or business in comparison to an all-fiber
deployment. The UNH-IOL’s Gfast Certification program now has over 20 certified devices, all certified and listed in just a short period of time.
Additionally, the UNH-IOL has made a Gfast test automation software commercially available. Test Sentinel, which controls the Telebyte test and measurement equipment, is an in-house solution available to companies who want to pre-test the technology in their own labs and allows service providers to easily regression test software updates from their suppliers.
Test Sentinel is just one of the many commercially available software solutions offered by the UNH-IOL. As always, the UNH-IOL student employees play a large role in creating and updating software that is used by industry every day. The IOL continues to employ over 100+ undergraduate and graduate students across several majors, primarily in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.
Mara Bernazzani
Communications Coordinator, UNH-IOL
