The need for network operators to reinvent business models and technological platforms has never been greater. User demands of telcos have evolved, and what was once a matter of providing more and more bandwidth is today a matter of what value-added services are provided, and how seamlessly they're delivered, maintained, and personalized. The separation of infrastructure from services is taking hold, and services are becoming primary revenue generators.

Realizing this service-driven future will require far greater agility and flexibility on all levels of the telco infrastructure, but nowhere as urgent as within the Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) space.

Most of the challenges with CPEs come down to the lack of control. A CPE device typically consists of custom hardware and proprietary software, both of which are provided by the same vendor. Software development is dictated by the vendors, who often tie new capabilities and features to the next hardware replacement cycle, and provide hardware and software support according to their roadmaps.

Such a system, however, has severe implications for telcos and legacy devices.

The tight bond between CPE hardware and software means that telcos have very little say over what services will be rolled out, and how quickly. Legacy equipment cannot be upgraded with new services, resulting in lost revenue opportunities and low customer satisfaction and retention rates.

Almost universally, the telco CPE assortment is a multi-vendor, multi-platform mess. This is in large part because vendor-driven factors such as strategy changes, manufacturing halts and end-of-support cycles push telcos to integrate new CPE hardware and software into their networks.

At the same time, operators need to keep up with evolutions in the technological landscape. New technology generations, network upgrades, or developments in WiFi and access technologies all require telcos to bring in new hardware, often introducing more vendors and software platforms in the process.

Over time, telcos are left with a growing mix of CPE variants that cover multiple access technologies, vendors and software platforms. And every one of those variants needs to be supported, provisioned, maintained and monitored.

The complexity at the edge also weighs down the ability to deliver a unified user experience. Key user-facing aspects of CPE devices such as graphical user interfaces, capability sets and configuration procedures currently differ too much between CPE devices. Ultimately, these inconsistencies result in a poor and confusing user experience for the customer.

Another casualty of this is brand loyalty. In order to set their offering apart, telcos must gain the ability to unify the user experience and visual identity across their entire product line — CPEs included. Until that happens, they will be forced to resort to speed and cost adjustments as the only methods of distinguishing themselves from the competition.

Then there's the question of security. Once the vendors discontinue their support for hardware and software platforms, the legacy CPEs that remain in the network pose a growing security risk — particularly to lurking zero-day exploits. Telecoms are then left to deal with the costly operational challenges of phasing out these unsupported devices from their networks.

Given these setbacks, it would seem that the legacy CPE is destined to remain a growing telco cost center. With no control over the software side, operators cannot reduce the costs associated with traditional CPE management and generate new value on legacy equipment.

Turning the tide on CPEs is only possible via open source and open standards-compliant CPE software. Such an approach breaks the restrictive chain between CPE hardware and software, enabling telcos to change and upgrade network elements based on their own roadmap and market preferences.

To help telcos reap the benefits of this approach, we've developed the Open Standards Edge Platform (OSEP). OSEP is an open standards software stack for controlling network devices and services across multiple access technologies, including 5G, cable, copper, or fiber. The platform unites an open source OS with flexible middleware and tools to deploy, monitor and manage virtualized CPE services.

Let's take a closer look at what this means for telcos and legacy devices.

With a powerful open standards platform, the telcos gain back control of the CPE. They can drive new capabilities and services on all CPEs, even opening the door to repurposing legacy devices for novel use cases within domains such as Connected Home, IoT, AI, Metaverse, Cybersecurity, and many more.

The OSEP platform takes this a step further. It supports containerization and lifecycle management technologies to enable telcos to run cloud-based, value-added services as isolated containers, and control them intuitively throughout their lifespan. Operators thus gain an unparalleled level of control over deploying and managing innovative services on existing devices.

An open standards-driven approach sets up a unique opportunity to ease management struggles at the network edge. No longer dependent on vendor roadmaps, telcos can now decide how and which CPE types they will introduce, ultimately profiting from a wider selection of suitable hardware. With the OSEP platform, operators can drive all legacy, existing and future CPE devices with one unified software stack, no matter the vendor or underlying access platform.

What this brings is a drastic reduction of both hardware and software variations, resulting in simpler device management and service deployment across all CPEs. The resources that telcos currently invest in managing a growingly complex CPE base can now be redirected into providing competitive services, which boosts revenue per customer, customer retention and customer base growth numbers.

Driving a broad range of CPEs with a single software platform provides many user-facing improvements. With complete control over the software, telcos can ensure that the user experience remains consistent across current and legacy CPE devices. All CPEs can be upgraded to adhere to a common design language, feature an on-brand look & feel, and employ similar configuration and usage patterns.

To this end, the OSEP platform provides a Web UI framework for creating lightweight, responsive and feature-rich user interfaces. The framework's modular design allows it to quickly accommodate new functionalities, pages, localizations and brand requirements. Telcos can finally achieve uniform branding throughout their CPE offering, and provide a more intuitive and user-friendly product to their customers.

Lastly, telcos can now base the core of their CPE platforms on proven and regularly supported open source projects. As a result, they can deliver continuous support for newer and older CPE models, simultaneously improving security levels and extending the lifespan of legacy devices. Operational expenses can also be reduced, as maintenance efforts are shared with the open source community.

In conclusion, the traditional way of managing CPEs has to change. It's simply too rigid and obstructive, filled with various vendor-driven barriers that operators must work around instead of providing new value to customers.

Open standards and open source software shift this paradigm. Solutions such as the OSEP platform greatly reduce the current network complexity, facilitate the delivery of innovative services, and add vital improvements to the security and user experience behind CPE devices. By seizing these capabilities, telcos can transform the legacy CPE from a cost center into a valuable asset for the service-driven era.

If you want to read more about OSEP, download the free Open Standards CPE Platforms: Unlocking PaaS for Operators white paper.

If you want to see OSEP in action, get in touch and schedule your live demo today.