What is TR-369?
TR-369 Device Management
TR-369 (or: User Services Platform, in short: USP) is a standardised remote device management protocol which offers management and monitoring functions to connected devices over the internet. The specification targets a large variety of devices including access gateways, WiFi routers, telephones, IoT devices, but also virtual services like containerised applications. The purpose of the protocol is to offer a consistent and interoperable way for operators, manufacturers and users alike to efficiently manage and monitor the growing number of devices in their networks. TR-369 was created as a replacement for the venerable and widely used TR-069 protocol, adding support for new kinds of applications while maintaining conceptual compatibility with and addressing shortcomings of TR-069. As a result, USP provides a flexible and extensible framework that can be used to manage today’s fleets of devices as well as tomorrow’s.
How does USP work?
The USP protocol provides a persistent connection between devices, implementing the USP Agent functionality, and services, implementing the USP Controller part. Such a connection can be used to exchange data using so called USP Messages. USP Messages operate on the Agent side on a data model, which is mostly identical to the data model used in the preceding TR-069 protocol, but enriched to allow even more complex activities. These USP Messages can work in two ways: In a request/response manner where the USP Controller actively queries (or modifies) the data model. Alternatively, a USP Controller can subscribe to notifications and the USP Agent will actively push the subscribed-to information to the USP Controller as it becomes available.
USP Use Cases
Lifecycle Management of connected residential devices (service provisioning, device authentication, device configuration)
(Self-)service
Customer Support
Efficient data collection and analytics
Proactive Network Maintenance
QoE and QoS assurance
Smart Home and IoT
Network Function Virtualisation
Benefits for ISPs and Operators
Telcos and Service Provider do need a way to bootstrap, upgrade, manage and monitor the new world of connected devices. For this purpose the Broadband Forum has laid out the CPE WAN Management | TR-069 protocol back in 2004 already - with more than one billion deployments nowadays.
TR-369 | User Service Platform (USP) has been designed and built as an evolution of TR-069 - leveraging all the experience and knowledge from the past. TR-369 | USP represents the new industry de facto standard for Device Lifecycle Management.
However there’s no need to choose between TR-069 and USP since they can perfectly co-exist and supplement one another. Devices already under management using the TR-069 protocol can be onboarded onto a USP Controller easily, allowing to implement new use-cases which are hard or inefficient to implement with TR-069. Since the data models are shared between the protocols, it is also easy to re-use existing systems and knowledge for USP. Another benefit of USP is the ability to communicate with multiple USP Controllers at the same time, allowing the use of dedicated USP Controllers per use-case, even from multiple vendors, to have a clear separation of concerns and a risk-free expansion of the business.
What is a USP Agent?
A USP Agent is a piece of software which is deployed as part of the firmware of a device and provides an implementation of the USP protocol to connect to a USP Controller and exchange data with it. It provides a data model based on the well established TR-181i2 specification, the so called supported datamodel, and connects it to the device’s configuration, services and status information via internal protocols, thereby allowing the USP Controller to interact with the system.
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AXACT provides a fully Broadband Forum (“BBF”) standards compliant TR-069 client and TR-369 | USP agent management solution. This commercial product allows to enable almost any kind of device or application to securely and efficiently receive configuration or be monitored via the corresponding management or monitoring systems.
We’re happily sharing our expertise and the software built on it with our valued customers to give them a competitive edge. Learn more about how AXACT offers the most efficient and effective approach to make devices manageable via USP and TR-069.
What is a USP Controller?
The USP Controller is a service side function allowing USP Agents to connect to and exchange data and implement the required use cases. The USP Controller can either be integrated into single purpose applications (e.g. a remote device management system or also a self-service application, running on the customers smartphone) but it can also run as a standalone system, allowing other systems to reach out to the devices via northbound APIs, (e.g. a monitoring platform or a customer support help desk).
Virtual Insights for TR-369/USP
USP 1.3 (TR-369) Overview
In this video, Jason Walls, Broadband Forum's Broadband User Services Work Area Director and Director of Technical Marketing at QA Cafe gives an overview of the origins and basic features of the Broadband Forum User Services Platform (USP) defined in TR-369.
USP Summit 2023 - Operator Roundtable
Fascinating discussion as part of the Broadband Forums USP Summit 2023 on how broadband service providers are utilizing now and in the future BBF’s USP (TR-369), their additional demands for open standards and certification to enable the efficient managed home and broadband service.
The Ever Evolving Managed User Experience: an Update on USP and TR-181
Join experts from the Broadband Forum's USP and TR-181 projects as they give you a preview of upcoming revisions to the standard and new capabilities for Wi-Fi management, DOCSIS deployments, and efficient data collection for mass telemetry.
Axiros @BBWF 2021
Watch the interview where Daniel Egger (Principal Software Engineer at Axiros & leader of the BBF "BUS Data Modeling" project stream) provides expert insight into the functionalities and benefits of the USP / TR-369 technology.
Our TR-369 based Products and Solutions
All Axiros products can be deployed and operated “On-Premises” or “as a Service”.
Eager for more? Stay informed about TR-369 / USP
Axiros Blog
Axiros News
FAQ | TR-369 (USP)
What is TR-369?
TR-369 (or USP) is the successor of TR-069. It was created to enable new use cases which were previously hard to implement, like real time notifications, connectivity to multiple management and monitoring systems as well as large scale inband data collection.
Does that mean TR-069 is now obsolete?
TR-069 can and will continue to co-exist for the foreseeable future. Both devices and our products can support both protocols concurrently, allowing for a smooth migration as needed.
We're already working with the data delivered by TR-069, do we have to start over to use USP?
No, TR-069 and USP are using the same TR-106 based data models (TR-181, TR-140, TR-135, TR-104), so the data will be exactly the same. The long time obsolete TR-098 data model is not supported with TR-369 anymore.