Experience in Home Networking
Over the past several years, Alumnus has played an important role in helping leading silicon vendors and OEMs deliver robust, production – grade home networking platforms — often under intense time – to – market pressures.
In one critical engagement, a Japanese conglomerate was facing delays on a home router platform (based on MIPS architecture). With only three months remaining before the intended launch, Alumnus was brought in to recover the schedule. We delivered a complete solution based on OpenWRT, introducing several key enhancements — including failure detection and recovery modules, in-kernel IPv6 and PPPoE pass-through integration, and streamlined configuration workflows. These improvements not only stabilized the platform but also enhanced compatibility with existing hardware, uptime, and administrative efficiency, enabling the customer to meet their go-to-market deadline.
For multiple semiconductor manufacturers, we have developed software for home gateway reference designs — laying the groundwork for OEMs building products around our clients’ chipsets. Our involvement spans complete software bring-up: integrating OpenWRT with board-specific SDKs, adapting proprietary software components into prplOS and RDK-B, resolving hardware quirks, and extending firmware with essential features and protocol support. We’ve contributed to hardware validation, upstream SDK integration, and platform enhancements that significantly reduce downstream rework and accelerate OEM readiness.
Our Value-add:
In all these engagements, we look for opportunities to outperform client expectations. We look to constantly optimize our customers’ software platforms — often around data path performance and protocol-level optimisation. In one assignment, we increased VPN throughput fourfold — from 500 Mbps to 2 Gbps — enabling high-speed encrypted connectivity. In another, we optimized throughput for third-party 5G USB modems, making 5G backup links viable. We have also addressed critical flow path issues impacting QoS during ultra-HD video streaming. Across the board, we’ve ensured system stability, managed complex SDK integrations, and delivered production-ready platforms tailored to real-world deployment demands.
