User Services Platform (USP)

New Standard in Embedded and Server-Side

Technology Will Transform Device Management For
Traditional And Emerging Applications In The IoT Age

A Technical Paper prepared for SCTE•ISBE by

Michael Shaw
Chief Executive Officer
Axiros North America, Inc., an Axiros GmbH company
3030 North Rock Point Drive, Suite 150, Tampa, Florida, 33607
202-641-2001
[email protected]

© 2019 SCTE•ISBE and NCTA. All rights reserved. 1

 Table of Contents
Title Page Number
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................ 2
Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 3
User Services Platform, USP .......................................................................................... 4
Embedded USP Agent Strategies ................................................................................... 5
USP Controller Strategies ............................................................................................... 6
USP Architecture and Design Considerations ................................................................. 6
USP Security ................................................................................................................... 7
USP Data Model.............................................................................................................. 7
Operator Services Enabled by USP ................................................................................ 8
Operator and Industry Use Cases Employing USP ......................................................... 9
Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 10
Abbreviations ................................................................................................................ 11
Bibliography & References ............................................................................................ 11

List of Figures
Title Page Number
Figure 1 - USP Agent, Controller and Service Element Relationship......................................................... 5
Figure 2 - USP Data Model ...................................................................................................................... 7
Figure 3 - USP in MSO Service Network .................................................................................................. 9

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 Introduction
More than ever before in the history of the modern connected world – which includes all manner of service
delivery, such as cable broadband, fixed and wireless telecommunications - the use of industry supported
device provisioning and management standards is critical. There are many reasons. Among them two which
must guide the decision and actions of industry and technology leaders: Traditional and new generation
connected devices will soon be measured in the billions; connected devices must be securely and efficiently
managed, requiring unparalleled cooperation between manufacturers and operators; and investment in the
technologies required to harness the potential of the new global connected world must be protected by
agreed upon standards supported by a global base of operators, technology providers and manufacturers
working together to propel safe innovation to new levels.

One such standard, User Services Platform, or USP, meets these criteria, and is poised to transform device
management forever. Based on Broadband Forum Technical Report 369, USP has evolved from the long
and proven history and ongoing support of TR-069 and allows global introduction into customer Premise
Equipment (CPE) of all types, and the operations of cable broadband and service providers of all shapes
and sizes without disruption. The design and architecture of USP, indeed, allows for an equally smooth
transition for manufacturers due to thr use of a common data model.

Offering a standardized architecture and protocol for the active and secure management of massive
populations of connected devices, USP provides a strong utilitarian foundation for hardware-software
solutions and product application ecosystems. In economic terms, this combination could be considered an
Efficient Frontier, with the risk-reward tradeoffs representing technology options which have been designed
into the USP specification rather than omissions based on compromise. The breadth of the USP’s
technology foundation, and the resulting flexibility of for operator implementation and its use for revenue
generating third party applications to expand an operator’s ability to safety support entire Internet of Things
business verticals, represents a universal adoptability particularly important to cable operators.

Innovation based on a widely adopted and supported industry standards, moreover, has the benefit of
reduced risk for invested capital, and reduced technology risk as a matter of product lifecycle management.
When the resulting ‘product’ output of a standard is manifest in both hardware and software, gains in risk-
avoidance may not be proportional to investment, but exponential in the value of the resulting solution
output. Operational efficiency resulting from implementation, particularly in the absence of new
technology adoption cost, moreover, supercharge beneficial outcomes; a combination of factors which can
justify the use of the word transformational in a time of underserved superlatives. This kind of return on
investment (ROI) that can transform companies and industries, providing a significant competitive
advantage in the modern connected world marketplace. Because of the wide variety of implementation
options provided by USP standardization of technology imposes no limitations of imagination, innovation
and user leadership with respect to new best practices, killer applications and executional excellent among
the operator and manufacturer communities.

This paper explores how the adoption of USP by cable broadband operators and equipment manufacturers
can transform operational efficiency and enable the creation of new revenue streams - outcomes of
contemporaneous value in operations centers and boardrooms.

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 User Services Platform, USP
User Services Platform has been described as the evolution of the Broadband Forum Technical Report TR-
069, which defines the CPE WAN Management Protocol, or CWMP, originally created to provide service
providers with a standardized protocol to remotely manage customer premise equipment (CPE) via a central
software platform, an Auto-Configuration Server (ACS). The widespread adoption of TR-069 has resulted
in reliable embedded protocol stacks for CPE, and as the populations of CPE managed by a single ACS
continued to increase through market growth, and the consolidation of operators through mergers and
acquisitions, the carrier-class ACS was developed. TR-069 has been so successful as a CPE standard in the
cable, carrier and consumer marketplace its resulting protocol stack is used in over one billion devices
worldwide. In the United States, CPE, including customer and business premise modems, wireless access
points and a growing variety of service gateways, served a growing number of the country’s 97 million
broadband internet customers 1 this year, and produced more than $89 billion in operator service revenue.
2
The growing number and variety of connected devices – particularly those under management by service
providers – has given rise to significant investment in device and network management technology.
Broadband Forum Technical Report TR-369, widely known as User Services Platform, is a prime example.
Enter, USP.

User Services Platform. USP is a standardized architecture and protocol for managing connected devices
and enabling their active control through an interoperable framework based on a structure of Agents and
Controllers. As an introductory reference, a USP Agent can be considered the embedded component of the
architecture, and a USP Controller to be the server-side component. USP does allow, however, many
functional combinations for complex operations, and the leveraging of multi-protocol device and
application ecosystems. For this reason, in USP Agents and Controllers are both designed to serve as
endpoints.

USP Agent. A USP Agent is an endpoint which exposes functions represented by a set of Service Elements.
Service Elements are objects, parameters, events, and operations which represent certain interfaces or
functions, such as performance statistics, Wi-Fi, smart home objects and others defined in the USP data
model. A USP Agent is designed to receive and respond to messages from a USP Controller, or to send
notifications about activity to which the Controller has subscribed. One of the design features of USP ideal
for both service delivery and Internet of Things (IoT) operations is the ability to use multiple USP
Controllers with an Agent (or a population of Agents embedded on similar or dissimilar CPE). This
capability allows highly specialized applications to be designed and deployed for specific operations. These
specific operations can serve operationally relevant functions for customer care, Wi-Fi management or
performance monitoring.

A USP Agent can also represent Service Elements on a device directly, or via proxy. An Agent is not
restricted to represent only Service Elements contained within the same platform as itself. This is a
significant and potentially empowering feature of USP, worth repeating. A USP Agent is not restricted to
represent only those Service Elements contained within the same platform as itself. Consider the number
of connected devices and multitude of communications protocols within the average home (and on the
shelves of consumer electronics stores) to envision the possibilities. Systems which communicate via a
protocol other than USP, such as Thread, or via another system bus, can be represented by the USP data
model’s device proxy mechanism. The data model’s “ProxiedDevice” table populates with elements that
can be hosted on other devices - such as IoT components - and allows a Controller to use USP to manage,
monitor, and control them.

USP Controller. A USP Controller is an endpoint which allows users and applications to manipulate the
functions exposed by an Agent. In USP, the functions exposed by the Agent are those defined by the data

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model, which will often be referred to as TR-181, or Device:2, because of its history as the data model for
TR-069. One of the benefits of USP, indeed, is the use of a robust and vetted data model which has been
used in the marketplace for over a decade, and which has evolved with the needs of the broadband
community. The inclusion of the TR-069 data model in the USP architecture is one of the factors beneficial
to the implementation of USP in the market because a common data model can be managed by an ACS or
a USP Controller, or both. This not only allows operators to preserve the investment made in ACS and
related technology already providing valuable provisioning functions in CPE operations, it also recognizes
that many of the operations performed by an enterprise-class ACS will continue, eliminating the costly
disruptions which can accompany new technology rollout. A recommended rollout plan for USP would
likely include the continued use of an ACS and TR-069 for provisioning, and the adoption of a USP
Controller for specific applications, such as mass data collection, which can be implemented more
efficiently with a TR-0369 agent. Unlike other device management architectures, there is no single
capstone Controller; the requirements of the operator dictate Controller operations.

Figure 1 - USP Agent, Controller and Service Element Relationship

Embedded USP Agent Strategies

As with any industry supported technology the availability of USP Agents to the CPE manufacturing
community will allow for mass implementation in the production phase, the same as current standard
processes for operating systems and firmware packages. Operators who have in recent years become
involved in the development of specifications for Set Top Boxes (STB), gateways and other CPE now have
one more option for embedding a multipurpose agent capable of utilizing a variety of Message Transport
Protocols, or MTPs. This variety of MTPs is one of the advantages offered by USP. Unlike a traditional
TR-069 protocol stack, a USP Agent is characterized by the placement of optional operations and events
into the data model, redcuing the need for unnecessary periodic remote procedure calls (RPCs). This allows
reduced controller-agent communications because commands and events always operate on associated
objects.

Because of the unique overall architecture of USP, implementation and integration services have become
important to third party application developers in service industries, such as security and other IoT verticals,
because any business or consumer grade CPE with an embedded USP Agent can become can application
enabling device. Entirely new service business can emerge, therefore, though application design by
companies whose solutions utilize commercially available hardware. Given this potential, it is not
inconceivable to imagine a Silicon Valley startup creating a consumer friendly application for mass market

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consumer products utilizing USP Agent and Controller interaction while a cable broadband operator to
whose network the devices are connected might utilize a dedicated USP Controller to monitor or manage
the performance of the CPE. Given the experiences of some operators experimenting in the IoT service
offerings, this scenario can be very compelling.

USP Controller Strategies

While USP Controllers can be deployed for a wide variety of operations involving CPE with USP Agents
for dual TR-069 and TR-369 stacks, they are not likely to replace the ACS for core provisioning functions.
A reasonable strategy for use of USP Controllers would entail bridging the gap between already deployed
and new technology. Where USP dual-stack Agents are embedded in CPE operators can evaluate the
introduction of USP Controller capabilities alongside existing ACS operations, utilizing USP Controllers
for operations requiring highly secure Message Transport Transport Protocols such as Websocket, or
lightweight messaging with MQTT. This strategy allows for the introduction of the powerful USP
Controller capabilities while maintaining efficient use of ACS operations for CPE provisioning.

Because there is no single ‘ideal’ USP Controller function, operators are unrestricted in their input to USP
Controller developers to address their most operationally exigent requirements, or to develop IoT
ecosystems for revenue generation. In the case of creating operational tools utilizing USP Controllers,
operators have extremely powerful features at their disposal, such as the ability to use multiple Transfer
and Transport Protocols. The protocol agnosticism of USP, indeed, is one of its most flexible attributes.

USP Architecture and Design Considerations

Multiple Transport

USP provides clear definition of protocol and transport, referred to in the Technical Report as Message
Transfer Protocols, or MTPs. One benefit of this well-defined structure is assurance protocol will operate
the same way regardless of the transport used. A related benefit is that with the support in USP of multiple
transport protocols additional protocols can be added in the future and industry and user needs evolve. The
inclusion of multiple transport capabilities in USP means operators, application developers and integrators
can use different transport based on specific use-cases. As significant, multiple transport can be employed
using the same USP Agent. The following MTPs are supported in USP at the time of tis writing:

WebSocket. A transport for point-to-point legacy devices as an option to HTTP and frequent
communication.

STOMP. A form of message broker transport protocol designed for cloud controllers supporting
LAN-side devices, and devices which might move from one network to another.

MQTT. A machine-to-machine (M2M) connectivity protocol associated in recent years with IoT
applications. MQTT is designed as a lightweight publish/subscribe messaging transport known
for its small size, low power usage and minimized data packets.

CoAP. Constrained Application Protocol is a specialized web transfer protocol for use with
constrained nodes and networks designed for use in IoT applications. Also an M2M protocol,
CoAP is sometimes associated with smart energy and building automation applications.

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In addition to these transports, USP defines an out-of-band mechanism for collecting large amounts of bulk
data in JSON or CSV format over HTTP. Specified for both TR-069 and TR-369, this is known as the
“HTTP bulk data collection mechanism” and is included in an annex of both specifications.

USP Security
The security of massive networks of connected devices is a topic of importance to any operator, and
certainly those in the cable broadband industry whose networks are fueling the rapid growth of the
connected home. With USP the Message Transfer Protocol (MTP) must use secure transport when USP
messages cross internetwork boundaries. It may not be necessary in some cases to use MTP layer security
for messages within an end-user local area network (LAN), but it is necessary to secure transport to and
from the Internet. Devices utilizing a USP Agent and Controller architecture are sure to support encryption
of all MTP protocols. Two common examples are:

• MTPs which operate over UDP will be expected to implement DTLS 1.2 (or greater as updated
from time to time by RFC standards)

• MTPs which operate over TCP will be expected to implement TLS 1.2 (or greater as updated
from time to time by RFC standards)

USP Data Model

The figure below displays the USP data model. As mentioned earlier, the data model includes many
features of the proven TR-069 data model. In the context of the USP architecture, there are other powerful
considerations in its application.

Figure 2 - USP Data Model

Extensive data type and restrictions-support are included. The data model specification used in USP
defines a wide variety of numeric, textual and binary datatypes for use with parameters in the data model.
A rich set of annotation for documentation or tool usage (e.g. description, units, default value, status and
version), as well as a comprehensive set of attributes which can be placed on a parameter to restrict its use
(e.g. write- and read-abilty, ranges, patterns, enumerations, references), represent significant advances.

Extensive tooling for the data model provides development and lifecycle support. In Technical Report
369 and related specifications, the Broadband Forum BBF provides a comprehensive set of standardized
and frequently updated data models. Well maintained tooling for conversion, documentation and

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verification of the raw data models, and organized membership participation in testing, ensures
interoperability and consistent documentation of implementations.

Introspection of the supported and instantiated data model is a powerful factor to ongoing viability.
USP supports a GetSupportedDM message which allows a USP Controller to introspect the supported data
model of a USP Agent. By using this message, a Controller can learn about the supported objects and
parameters, and the operations allowed to be used on them, the data model defined commands and defined
event types a USP Controller can subscribe to for notifications.

Encoding of custom operations and events, including input/out arguments, in the data model add to
the extensibility and introspection features. Different from TR-069, which utilizes a pre-defined set of
mandatory and optional RPCs for specialized operations (e.g. software download, and reboot), USP defines
a mandatory set of messages, and has moved all optional operations and events into the data model. This
allows for a vastly improved flexibility, reduced implementation and extensions because commands and
events always operate on associated objects.

Operator Services Enabled by USP

Given the variety of implementstion options provided by USP it is clear one of the benefits os USP is, in
fact, its almost endless possible operator services. At the time of this writing there are several noteworthy
areas of focus by early adopters. Several of these operator service features are provided here.

Performance Measurement and Diagnostics. The USP data model allows a Controller to initiate
download and upload performance operations, obtain network mapping and performance
diagnostics.

Management and Monitoring of Critical Network Interfaces. USP contains elements for
managing and gathering statistics from a device’s entire network stack, including physical
interfaces (Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Zigbee, etc.), SSID and MAC layer information, IPv6 interfaces,
DHCP, tunneling, and more. These components are connected and read via an Interface Stack
object defined in USP which describes the active connections of a subject device.

Management and Monitoring Network Services and Clients. USP exposes elements for
managing access to network and security services, including firewall, DNS, network time (NTP),
QoS, routing policies, connected hosts, and user access. An application layer, moreover, connection
interface such as MQTT, XMPP, or STOMP can also be enabled.

Management of Containers and Applications. USP allows users to install, monitor, and manage
the lifecycle of execution containers and software modules via the USP Agent, using objects,
parameters, and operations built into the data model.

Machine Learning and the use of Optimization Algorithms with Real-time Telemetry. USP
mass data collection allows for the aggregation and delivery of data to a machine learning or AI
endpoint. Through a USP management channel users can be provided control over which data
points are be gathered and delivered to analysis resources, making USP ideal for always-on
performance data collection and analysis.

Ongoing evolution. Important to operators, manufacturers and technology providers adopting USP
and participating in the ongoing evolution of if it and related standards, new features and elements

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 can be added to the data model through collaboration and iterative work through Broadband Forum.
New releases of the data model are produced numerous times per year.

Figure 3 - USP in MSO Service Network

Operator and Industry Use Cases Employing

USP
As described the definition of USP and its architecture, a wide variety of use cases are enabled by the
standard. Because USP has been developed out of an evolutionary process beginning with TR-069, now
used in over one billion devices, and with the base of industry experience this widespread acceptance
implies, the use cases for USP are numerous. The following are several relevant to the cable broadband
industry.

Mass Collection of Performance Data. USP allows operators, equipment manufacturers and
third-party applications developers to develop applications which gather mass telemetry for
analysis, machine learning and performance optimization.

Customer Self Care Applications. USP Controllers can be designed for end-user devices to allow
customer self care portals without dependence on cloud resources. Utilizing USP for this type of
application, moreover, allows operators to either design customer self care applications themselves,

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 collaborate with manufacturers, or utilize the expertise of industry software companies providing
USP and ACS operations to cable operators and carriers.

Standardized Onboarding and Management of IoT Devices. USP is ideal to unify the wide
variety of IoT, smart home devices and emerging connected devices by proxying non-IP protocols
such as Thread, Zigbee, Z-Wave, and others, under the management of one comprehensive
architecture which is also incredibly flexible and well suited for myriad real-world applications.
Using USP operators, manufacturers and third-party application-driven businesses can work
together, collaborate and innovate.

Managing a Smart Home. With the evolution of smart home devices and their capabilities, the
consumer marketplace contains a who’s-who of vendors focusing on a variety of modern smart
home applications. For example, DIY security, smart home lighting, intelligent climate control,
smart appliances and others proliferate the marketplace. The multitude of devices and their own
proprietary frameworks mean end customers can face a daunting task integrating the best features
or attributes from different manufacturers. USP can help not only manufacturers and applications
developers standardize a development framework, but they can adopt one useful for operators to
help maintain optimal performance once they are connected to a service provider terminal.

Smart Wi-Fi Management. USP can provide the capability for customers to manage their on-
premise router prioritization to favor gaming, streaming or browsing traffic based on data collected
from connected devices. While also useful to operators who wish to interact at this level, customer
self-allocation can provide the best of both worlds – operator access and end-user self-
prioritization. The customer can review their own usage data in real time and take a decision to
execute a prioritization policy, reducing CSR calls, or at least reducing their duration. Consumer
education, moreover, supports the viability of this option now more than ever before.

Accelerated Development of ‘Insanely Great’ Products and Services. Many of us remember

the famous line from one of Steve Job’s Apple keynotes. In a world of incredibly utilitarian and
robust open standards, insanely great products for worldwide mass adoption could certainly benefit
from standardization. Product development of IoT hardware and applications is a prime example.
A recent study found that 70% of IoT start-ups fail. In addition to protocol fragmentation, IoT
businesses also face cloud management fragmentation, and new hardware technologies appear and
disappear like confetti. USP offers a common technology architecture to address IoT biggest
challenges.

Protection of End-user Data in IoT. It will be no surprise to anyone reading this paper that many
of the ‘successful’ mass market IoT applications send a lot of personal data to service companies
whose revenues, individually, exceed the Gross Domestic Product of first world economies. With
USP, those companies need not peek at, collect or exploit user data. Complete IoT service
application ecosystems can be developed using USP Agents and Controllers and the secure
messaging protocols described above, while still providing performance troubleshooting and
support access to network service providers.

Conclusion
User Services Platform, or USP, provides operators, manufacturers, technology providers, and enterprising
applications developers the ability to make dramatic advances in device performance, management and
functionality without abandoning currently deployed assets, disrupting current operations, or making
hopeful investment decisions on proprietary technology. When a new industry-supported technology

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advances the most purposeful business objectives of so many interdependent participants of an industry
attention must be paid, and adoption must move forward.

Abbreviations
ACS Auto Configuration Server
AP access point
BPS bits per second
BBF Broadband Forum
CoAP constrained application protocol
EI endpoint identifier (ID)
HTTP hypertext transfer protocol
IoT Internet of Things
MQTT MQ telemetry transport
MSO multisystem operator
MTP message transfer protocols
ISBE International Society of Broadband Experts
RPC Remote procedure call
SCTE Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers
SEP service endpoint
STOMP simple (or streaming) text orientated messaging protocol
USP User Services Platform, TR-369
STB set top box
TR technical report, abbreviation used by Broadband Forum

Bibliography & References

World gross domestic product, The organisation for economic co-operation and development (OECD),
July 2019

Why cable’s financial outlook remains bright for 2019 and beyond, Mary M. Collins, Mary M.,
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Tr-369 training - an overview of the User Services Platform (USP/TR-369), 2019, QA Café, Walls, Jason

Cable providers industry in the US - market research report, December 2018, IBISWorld

User services platform, use cases for communicstions and internet of things applications, Industry
discovery research report, July, 2019, Axiros North America, Inc., Ortiz, Henry J.

Economic impact, ncta - the internet & television association, ncta.com, July 2019

TR-369, USP Data Model and Architectural Attributes, July, 2019, Axiros GmbH, Egger, Daniel

© 2019 SCTE•ISBE and NCTA. All rights reserved. 11

User Services Platform, Smart Home Use Cases for Industry, research report, June, 2019, Axiros North
America, Inc., Gourishankar, Sanjeev

Realizing the Promise of the Connected Home with User Services Platform (TR-369), MU-461,
Broadband Forum, 2019, Walls, J., Spets, T., Olden, M., Burke, G., et al

The evolution of TR-069 will improve standardization of iot standards, April 20, 2017, Egger, Daniel

A report from Broadband Forum usp plugfest #3, Axiros GmbH, April 2019, Shaw, Michael

Technical report, #369, TR-369 User Services Platform (USP), November 2018, Broadband Forum

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