This initiative is framed within the strategy of technological transformation and leadership in the current digital context, and is part of an ambitious and extensive program that includes multiple actions of significant technological importance with the aim of building the best network on the market and generating maximum efficiency.
Thus, once the first of the three phases of the plan was completed, the Global Device Development Center, the Global Process and Operations Support Systems Center, and the Global Energy and Leasing Center were fully operational.
As a first example of the work of its new global centers, Telefónica, through its Global Device Development Center, has created a pioneering device that integrates several of the existing devices—router, ONT, and videobridge—that customers use in their homes to access Telefónica services. This is the Home Gateway Unit (HGU), a three-in-one device that allows users to take full advantage of Telefónica's fiber optic network, thus improving the customer's connectivity experience.
The HGU is already commercially available in Spain, specifically in Madrid, the Levante region, Murcia, and Andalusia, for new fiber optic connections—at any speed (30 or 300 Mbps)—or for Movistar customers upgrading from ADSL to fiber or porting their fiber optic service from other providers to Movistar. By the first quarter of 2016, the new device will be available in all Telefónica cities and facilities in Spain. For current Movistar customers who already enjoy Movistar services with other devices and 30 or 300 Mbps fiber optic connectivity, Telefónica will also have an offer available to allow them to exchange their current equipment for the new HGU.
Furthermore, the integrated team, the first of a new generation of proprietary devices entirely designed, developed and certified by the Global Device Development Center with the highest quality standards, will arrive in Brazil and Chile during the first half of next year.
The Global Device Development Center aims to design, develop, and certify a standardized global portfolio of devices for all Telefónica Group operators, ensuring time-to-market and product quality through a single end-to-end process. The three-year portfolio includes, among other devices, xDSL, FTTH, cable, and 3G/LTE routers, as well as the certification of TV set-top boxes and mobile devices.
The Home Gateway Unit features the most advanced Wi-Fi technology on the market (802.11ac), the result of a collaboration with Quantenna Communication. This integration and simplification effort is further reflected in the implementation of six internal antennas: four for Wi-Fi (one 5 GHz and two 2.4 GHz); the reduction to just four flicker-free blue LEDs to minimize light pollution; an FXS port for integrating VoIP; and four Gigabit Ethernet ports.
All of this is housed in a single, compact unit. The system is managed by a high-end Broadcom chip for GPON, enabling symmetrical speeds of up to 1 Gbps.
In the design and production of the software and hardware, Telefónica has collaborated with the companies Askey and Mitrastar, both from Taiwan; and for the design, it has worked with Mormedi, a leading national company in industrial design, with which it has developed the design itself, with the softest and simplest shapes so that they fit into the home furniture.
