prpl Foundation Releases prplWRT Open-Source CPE Software

August 20, 2020 -- Today, prpl Foundation announced the release 1.0 of its prplWRT software stack. prplWRT builds on the long standing OpenWrt stack, adding support for features required by service providers while leveraging open standards to unify low-level APIs. Focused on the requirements of carriers, prplWRT adds support for additional hardware, services, and management features common in the carrier’s infrastructure.

“We are very pleased to see our prplWRT project reach this important milestone as it progresses toward deployment,” said Robert Ferreira, President of the prpl Foundation. “The ecosystem needs such a platform-independent stack to converge and standardize software deployments on multiple CPE architectures.”

By providing a common multi-platform stack, service providers can leverage the combined development efforts of manufacturers and their OEMs towards a stable, well-tested and regularly updated software platform. Combined efforts toward a common platform avoids redundant integration and verification efforts by each. The continuous addition of carrier-grade features emphasizes the long-term commitment of prpl and its members. It also paves the way for smaller industry players to deploy carrier-grade solutions.

This release of prplWRT builds upon the latest developments from OpenWrt and Linux ecosystems, as well as major device makers. prplWRT also supports standardized OCI-compliant runtime containers to help promote open industry standards. This benefits ecosystem partners, allowing them to easily incorporate their micro-services into an open CPE architecture and accelerate the service velocity required by service providers.

prpl starts from existing community projects and continuously adds on carrier-grade security, software hardening, QA, testing and features like DSL support, remote management clients (e.g., TR-069 or USP), etc. Future releases of prplWRT aim at enhancing gateway and router OEMs with a plug and play stack to support PON, Device Management and IoT. prplWRT enables a smooth transition from highly fragmented vendor-specific stacks, to a common baseline with open APIs and frameworks. This allows for high customization and differentiation without sacrificing security or updatability.

Several leading service providers, OEMs and technology vendors contribute to prplWRT including ADTRAN, CommScope, Intel, Iopsys, KAON, MediaTek, SoftAtHome, Verizon, and Vodafone. All project-related documentation and code can be accessed via the prpl git repository.

SUPPORTING QUOTES:

“We learned a lot from previous community projects which have been building modular frameworks for decades. By designing and developing along clear APIs with high coding standards, we make our software more portable and easier to maintain. Additionally, by agreeing upon an open source baseline across companies, and only working in patches on top of this baseline, all our software becomes more versatile and integration with other companies’ products becomes a straightforward process.”
— David La Cagnina, Senior Product Line Manager, ADTRAN

“CommScope is committed to supporting our customers’ unique vision and approach to deliver the future of connected services. Standards-based and open-source initiatives like prpl give service providers access to the latest software to help them go-to-market more quickly and efficiently. By adding key features to OpenWrt and providing a common API to seamlessly connect gateways to cloud services, prplWRT provides new options for differentiating services built on these common frameworks.”
— Ian Wheelock, Engineering Fellow, CommScope

“We see the first prplWRT release as an important milestone in the evolution towards open standards and APIs in the Gateway industry. At Iopsys, we remain committed to the OpenWrt community and the prpl Foundation. We believe that the projects supported by prpl are important to enable service providers to deploy new innovative services to broadband consumers around the world.”
— Joakim Bennerholt, CEO, Iopsys Software Solutions AB

“‘Standardization’ and ‘Ecosystem’ are two key words that best describe this important milestone. At KAON, we are confident that prplWRT will become the mainstream open-source operating system allowing CPE to become the home ecosystem’s central hub. CPE is becoming a secure entry point allowing easy and efficient deployment of new features, while at the same time reducing and minimizing platform integration efforts. Fast time-to-market is the key to success which will bring major customer satisfaction!”
— Carlos Santos, Head of Products in Europe, KAON

“Working toward a common platform for Service Providers and their OEMs is particularly important to MediaTek and our initiatives. By focusing on the needs of Service Providers, prplWRT’s advantages will help drive new market opportunities and move us all closer to meeting the rising demand for technology innovation across both consumer and vertical markets.”
—James C. Chen, Associate Vice President, Product Marketing, MediaTek

“Stimulation and support of an open source approach to CPE software is part of our company’s mission. As a company wholly owned by telcos, we are delighted to see the industry moving towards carrier-grade CPE solutions based on standards, open APIs and open source. Open source improves quality as any source code is reused in many different environments and tested by many more users. The larger community also brings resources for a greater innovation potential. The first prplWRT release is an important milestone on this path.”
— Marc de Courville, VP Engineering, SoftAtHome

About prpl Foundation
prpl Foundation enables high-velocity, service-driven innovation on customer-premises equipment by harmonizing interfaces in open APIs and delivering open-source reference implementations of common infrastructure. The foundation welcomes new member companies with interests and resources to get involved in the work to further this innovation.

For more information, please visit: https://prplFoundation.org or https://git.prpl.dev/prplwrt/prplwrt/-/wikis/home