Joint ITU CTO event Bridging Standardization Gap ITR and

Joint ITU/CTO event: “Bridging Standardization Gap, ITR and Interoperability issues” 13 September 2010, Colombo, Sri Lanka Highlights from the consultation events For the Americas and the African regions Paolo Rosa Head, Workshops and Promotion Division Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

Outline 1. The Problems, where are they? 2. Contributions to the events 3. ITU Conformance Database considerations and the Step-by-step approach 4. Conclusions

National Communications Authority Ghana

Egypt - Network Integrator A Equip. Category (1) Description of the problem (2) Wireless Access (Wi. Max 802. 16 d) 5 Qo. S: low Quality of Service – BER related issues Reasons (3) Effects/Impact on (4) 3 4 poor Loss of business / market interoperability opportunities / image with equipment respect to competitors different vendors CDMA F 3 Backhauling Frame poor Via VSAT structures / key interoperability bytes equipment different vendors 2 Additional costs for maintenance/operation/ restoring 4

Egypt - Network Integrator B Equip. Category (1) Description of the problem (2) Main Reasons (3) Feature not supported and not mentioned on Data Sheet although it is basic requirements for operation. Effects/Impact on (4) Another devise should be used. Analog Voice Gateway Can’t forward dialed digits to next devise. Voice interface Card Caller ID feature is not working on New hardware certain mode of operation although it is interface card should globally mentioned on Spec. Sheet that it be used. is supported. The customer was unsatisfied and switched to another vendor. Data Switch Per Packet load sharing on multi-trunk lines is not working although it is mentioned in the Spec. Sheet Additional devices need to be used to support the required function. Wimax Basestation Function not available in current software release. Antenna diversity should be supported. . . The diversity is actually not It is available on the configuration menu working when it was enabled on the software but not working. support Team stated that the diversity is not working in the current software and may be active in next version 5

Egypt- Mobile operator Equip. Category (1) OMC Announcement Machine for subscribers Description of the problem (2) Signaling Reasons (3) Effects/Impact on (4) no conformity to standards Negative impact on customers/new markets no conformity to standards Cost increase due to the need to replace some/all old existing equipment or to buy additional equipment to solve problems (e. g. interfaces) Partial/Total non conformity for no conformity to IN expected standards functionalities poor interoperability equipment different NGN (RNC/MGW) Software vendors poor interoperability Mobile Switching Signaling equipment different Center vendors Negative impact on customers/new markets Loss of business / market opportunities / image with respect to competitors 6

TELCOR-NICARAGUA Problems: • Partial non conformity for expected functionalities • Out of service • Signaling, Overhead configuration • Safety requirements Effects on: • • • Cost increase to the need to replace some existing equipment or to buy additional equipment to solve problems Negative impacts on customers and negative image with respect to competitors Limited or no access to required services Delay in restoring Impact on effectiveness of services for civil society and emergency (for example public phones could not handle a three-digit numbering, wich are the emergency numbers Conclusion: Support to ITU C&I programme and Res. 76 implementation to reduce problems • • Compliance testing and interoperability and Conformity database are indespensable tools to achieve C&I objectives

SUPERTEL Ecuador • The costs of the technology should be evaluated not only in view of the initial investment but also in view of the lifetime of products and their performance • Meeting conformance to standards and interoperability requirements should be a need for all the industry • We must be aware the more technology does not meet certified conformity and interoperability requirements the more is the probability it be converted in waste in a shorter time

SUPERTEL Ecuador • Inconvenients due to no compatibility between Platforms and Terminals for SMS (INFORME TÉCNICO No. IT. DST. 2009. 27/11/09) • Lack of Interconnection due Signaling (INFORME STC-2008 -00271) to • Limits in CDMA interoperability (ESTUDIO DE MOVILIDAD PARA ETAPA 2002) • Other cases where conformance was not sufficient to achieve interoperability

ATIS Conformance Database Is Ineffective and Risky - 1 • A conformance database is not likely to improve interoperability. – Conformance is not necessarily related to interoperability. For example, whether a product conforms with product safety requirements does not impact its ability to interoperate with other devices. – Most products conform to many standards, not just ITU Recommendations. Hence, conformance with only ITU Recommendations will not ensure interoperability. – The majority of standards include many options. If a standard has two options, for example, products in conformance with Option A will not necessarily interoperate with products in conformance with Option B.

ATIS Conformance Database Is Ineffective and Risky - 2 • The database could negatively impact countries and consumers. – Countries may be deprived of new, state-of-the art products and services if companies are inhibited from entering a market when its products are not listed in the database. – Time-to-market will likely be slowed by new conformance testing. – Marketplace confusion could result from false, misleading or otherwise erroneous database entries. • Consumers may face higher costs from additional conformance and/or interoperability testing and from reduced competition in the market.

ATIS supporting CITEL step-by-step approach proposal to Plenipotentiary 2010 “The Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB) Director, prior to the implementation of any conformance or interoperability database, should: • Identify the nature of the interoperability and conformity problems in the CITEL region; • Study the effects databases may have on sector members and stakeholders (e. g. , other SDOs); – Proposed studies should also address relevance of the proposed searchable databases in “bridging the standardization gap” in the Americas Region; • Present the results of a robust consultative process with respect to the databases to future Council meetings; • Develop a detailed “business case” for the searchable database prior to its implementation; and • Address potential liability issues related to the use of the databases by the TSB Director before implementation. ”

ATIS Summary • More work remains to be done in order to move toward a useful implementation of Resolution 76 that addresses the needs and priorities of member States, the structure of the ICT industry, and the expectations of end users around the world. • Any follow up action to Resolution 76 of WTSA-08 put forward by the TSB Director to Council and the Plenipotentiary Conference 2010 (PP-10) should be consistent with the CITEL Inter-American Proposal (IAP) to the Plenipotentiary Conference 2010. • A business plan that identifies costs and potential liabilities must be completed prior to launching of the proposed ITU-T database (see JCA-CIT).

Germany – Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology Project: Measuring interoperability – from theory to practice “successful interaction of various data- and document-formats, processes and services as well as software (-versions) and applications often fails due to a lack of interoperability, which is a prerequisite condition as soon as two or more systems need to interact. “

Germany: The Project • Seeking to develop measures to enhance interoperability in ICT stating that Conformity is not Interoperability • Addressed to – public procurers have no acknowledged criteria to describe requirements concerning interoperability – suppliers – especially SMEs – do not have an acknowledged possibility to proof if their product meets infrastructures requirements • To develop typical scenarios aiming at analyzing, testing, verifying and demonstrating interoperability of selected systems in specific areas of application in a lab testingenvironment • To produce scenario-specific profiles to be channelled to the relevant standards bodies as appropriate

Benefits of MRAs Ø Products may be shipped directly to foreign countries without any further requirements for testing and/or certification, thereby reducing costs and time to market Ø Facilitates trade by promoting market access Ø Reduces and minimizes non-tariff trade barriers Ø Promotes market access and competition Ø Shortens the time for manufacturers to introduce their products into the importing countries

Impact of the Mutual Recognition Agreement in the Americas Lack of certified laboratories and of policies for their accreditation doesn’t allow, especially in the countries of latin america and of the caribean islands, the achievement of the objectives of MRAs, and it generated a disparity in the access to the market in the american region.

Present situation Mutual Recognition of Test Reports Mutual Recognition of Certification 18

Outline 1. The Problems, where are they? 2. Contributions to the events 3. ITU Conformance Database considerations and the Step-by-step approach 4. Conclusions

Italy Example in SDH homologation (Gov. labs): • • 6 Manufacturers – STM 16 Optical Systems Physical Interfaces Software & Hardware 107 tests failed: no-conformance and no-interoperability, e. g. : – – – BER performance, data exchange and thresholds settings Protection switching Alarm monitoring not correctly implemented (threshold etc. ) especially for regenerators and for STM-1, STM-4 and STM-16 levels AIS (signal loss alarm) actions not implemented receiver sensitivity versus a BER=10 -10 for the ADM 16/1 aggregate optical interface results not compliant with ITU-T G. 957 Recommendation; No conformity to standards for • • Jitter transfer function on PDH tributaries at 140 M bit/s out of Recs. EOW auxiliary (service) 1+1 protection switching, absence of error performance monitoring (ITU-T G. 821 and/or G. 826) Frame alignment pointer not in common positions (Bytes, Bits) synchronization/clock problems ….

Italy “Reply to concerns from some members about the ITU-T Conformity and Interoperability program as agreed by the Council-09” – Why to implement the ITU Conformity Procedure and its Database – Benefits coming from the ITU Conformity Database for manufacturers, operating companies, services providers, end-users – Why the conformance assessment is the first step in achieving interoperability – Real costs and time to market for the manufacturers – ITU Conformity and Interoperability programme as the best solution for the needs of developing counbtries.

Telecom Italia 1 • • • ITU-T's ADSL transceiver standard allowing discretionary implementation choices aimed unfairly impair any-to-any interoperability (chipset issue) Poor basic interoperability and sub-optimal performances between cross-vendor implementations. Problems progressively overcome thanks to: – ITU-T's transceiver standard for new generations of DSL technologies (e. g. ADSL 2/2+ and VDSL 2) – less chipset vendors which made the interop playground narrower, hence less complicated – Operators strong demand for interoperability limited, to a certain extent, unfair implementation practices – Development of interoperability Test Plans by the Broadband Forum, in a sense completing the ITU-T standard. These Test Plans not only deal with functional interoperability but also at the level of optimal any-to-any performances.

Telecom Italia 2 • GPON interoperability tests : lack of interoperabilty in a multivendor environment due to: – Misinterpretation of the Standard, • E. g. Most Significant Bit of a certain field inverted with Least Significant Bit – Too many options allowed by the Standard: example GPON OMCI (G. 984. 4), which led to the production of the "G. 984. 4 Implementers Guide” defining a sub-set of mandatory implementations of the OMCI stack

Vietnam • Partial missing of vendor’s committed implemented functionalities affects general quality of services – – In mobile wireless network, it was not possible to implement vendor A’s EMR function In transmission network, vendor B’s SDH equipment Metro 100 lacks of LCAS (Link Capacity Adjustment Scheme) functions…. • Partial lack of interoperability between equipment of same or different manufacturers results in the impossibility to access to services – – when exchanging codecs between 2 softswitches, the first priority of supplier F’ MSS equipment is AMR 12. 2 while AMR 12. 2 is the secondary choice of supplier E’s MSS, thus, the supplier E’s MSS only replies with the G. 711 message. A interface of supplier E‘s BSC support only ATM while the MSS equipment of supplier F support only TDM • Need to apply unexpected procedures to obtain that functionalities work • Low quality of service – – many service providers/operators could not figure out the specifications that are related to the Qo. S of each service, thus their compatibility or incompatibility to ITU recommendations such as ITU-T G. 1010, ITU-T E. 860… still can not be verified. Qo. S has not been realized in details, therefore it is not easy to apply ITU-T’s recommendations.

Outline 1. The Problems, where are they? 2. Contributions to the events 3. ITU Conformance Database considerations and the Step-by-step approach 4. Conclusions

The step-by-step approach • How long will each step be [time] and how many steps are foreseen? • Are the industry, the operating companies, regulators and endusers willing to wait for the results of the proposed multi-year step-by-step approach before deciding how to make investments and how to deploy new risk-free technologies? • To gain time we can benefit of the step-by-step approaches followed by others SDOs, Especially those that found reasonable and frutful the creation of a conformity database. • A step-by-step approach that benefits of the experience of others SDOs should be developed in parallel to the implementation of the Res. 76, 46 and to the action lines endorsed by Council-09. Considering the activities of other SDOs well consolidated, the “ITU parallel step-by-step” approach will allow: – To satisfy needs of vendors and customers – To fine-tuning the activities of ITU on res. 76 and 47 – To give advice to ITU Study Groups to consider for new studies for test suites as needed – A better coordination with other SDOs in the field of C&I 26

Concerning the effectiveness of Databases: the others do Shown Conformance Databases produced by other SDOs with the aim to: - - - reduce time-to-market, reduce testing costs also thanks to Mutual Recognition Agreements and/or Arrangement (tested once tested everywhere), increase competition, increase confidence of end users to products, be a window available to vendors to show conform products. Databases from other SDOs are populated by the same industries claiming for exactly opposite reasons …

Existing DBs from some other SDOs • IEEE – ICAP Product Conformance Registry • Open Mobile Alliance – Products Listing • FCC part 68 - www. fcc. gov/wcb/iatd/part 68 faqs. pdf “The rules also provide for the development www. ieee-isto. org/icap-program/products www. openmobilealliance. org/Application/Product. Listing/products and maintenance of a publicly accessible database of approved TE and for labeling TE that have been shown to comply with the technical criteria. All approved TE are required to be listed in the database and to be properly labeled”. The Administrative Council for Terminal Attachments (ACTA), joint sponsorship of the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), mandate “for maintaining a publicly accessible database of all approved TE” • Wi. MAX Forum Spectrum and Regulatory Database: • www. wimaxforum. org/resources/wimax-forum-spectrum-and-regulatory-database http: //www. wimaxforum. org/certification/certified-product-showcase • Wi-Fi certified products database: www. wifi. org/certified_products. php • Global Certification Forum (GCF) (mobile phones and wireless devices based on 3 GPP standards) GCF's guiding maxim is "test once, use anywhere. " http: //www. globalcertificationforum. org/Web. Site/public/home_public. aspx 28

The FCC Conformity Database FCC – 00 – 171 NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULEMAKING Adopted: May 15, 2000 • Item 68 : Released: May 22, 2000 Declaration of Conformity. (omissis)……Do. C is a procedure under which the party responsible for the equipment's compliance with specific technical parameters, the manufacturer, importer, or assembler, causes measurements to be made of equipment performance with regard to those parameters. The party performing such measurements must be accredited for doing so by an authorized accreditation body based on the International Organization for Standardization and International Electrotechnical Commission ("ISO/IEC") Guide 25. (omissis) • Item 76 Database of Approved or Certified Equipment • Currently, the Commission maintains a data base of terminal equipment registered pursuant to Part 68……. . a private entity be responsible for sponsoring and maintaining a similar database. • ………. entities using either Do. C or verification be required to submit pertinent information regarding their identity and approved equipment to a database administrator. (omissis)

The FCC-Administrative Council for Terminal Attachment ACTA (TIA-ATIS) Database Ref. FCC 00 -400 of 21 December 2000 • • (item 108) the database “will permit interested parties such as the Commission, providers of telecommunications, and consumers to track and identify suppliers or importers of non-compliant equipment. As such, the database should ameliorate concerns regarding the potentially adverse impact of non-compliant terminal equipment on the PSTN by ensuring that suppliers are held accountable for any damage their equipment may cause to the PSTN” Registration Numbering and Labeling (Item 81) As stated previously, when the Commission determines that a piece of terminal equipment meets the technical requirements for that equipment, the Commission assigns a unique registration number to that piece of equipment. We tentatively conclude that although the Commission will no longer be responsible for CPE registration, some form of unique identifying label must be applied to all terminal equipment. This identifying label is necessary to adequately identify CPE as an approved piece of terminal equipment that customers are entitled to connect to the PSTN (omissis)

IEEE Interoperability & Conformity Assessment Program (ICAP) • The ICAP website (www. ieee-isto. org/icap) is the externally facing “storefront” for the ICAP program • Providing a home base for industry groups involved with conformity programs associated with IEEE standards – Includes Laboratory Services Listing – Includes Registry of Conforming Products

Is ITU C&I DB creating confusion on the marketplace? The GCF – Certific. explained • GCF Certification delivers extra confidence throughout the mobile value chain by demonstrating that a mobile phone or wireless device: is compliant with requirements agreed by GCF, which in turn reference core and test specifications published by recognised standards organisations and other industry forums • will interoperate correctly when used on a variety of digital mobile networks • Manufacturers who certify their mobile devices to GCF rules and procedures are assured that: – their products will benefit from a high degree of interoperability – time-to-market for new products is reduced using this respected 'one-stop' verification process – expensive and time-consuming duplication of testing effort can be avoided • With GCF's 'tested once, use anywhere' maxim, manufacturers can significantly reduce the requirement for operator acceptance testing if presenting GCF certified devices.

Just an example from Wi. Max Forum…

Or better two examples…the GCF DB

ITU-T Recs & test suites Test results (ITU-T X. 290) 1 Ro Ro ut e Supplier’s conformity route decision 1 st party Evaluation Supplier’s Conformity Declaration (ISO/IEC 17050) Route 2 B Product successfully tested in a lab recognized by any Rec. ITU-T A. 5 SDO / Forum ITU C&I services Supplier’s Request to ITU Conformity Database 2 Test lab (Certification Body / Rec. A. 5 SDO/Forum lab) Test results (ITU-T X. 290) Route 2 A Accredited (ISO/IEC Guide 65) Certification Body Evaluation Conformity Certificate issued by Certification Body Implementation of the ITU Conformity Programme Conformity Assessment / Certification accredited lab (ISO/IEC 17025) e ut

The parallel TSB step-by-step approach Res. 76 (WTSA-08) Conformity and interop tools S-by-S STND Standardization needs S-by-S FIN Financial issues Res. 47 WTDC-10 Capacity building / test centres Conformity Data Base available to the public immediately SDo. C completeness & liability advices, database layout, criteria to reduce costs Comparison and evaluation of certified vs non-certified testing costs (%) Analysis of the results of the ITU-D Questionnaire on C&I labs in the regions Promote conformity / interop testing and the ITU-T database(s) Inputs from any vendor and free access by end users Continue monitoring of main C&I requirements from developing countries linked to applications and technology, neutrality Comparison of financial impact of certification testing on final manufacturing costs of products and final cost to the end users (%). Creating a conformity testing and interoperability culture in the regions: workshops & Capacity Building opportunities Create a C&I portal managed by ITU to provide a general overview on C&I and links to activities of other SDOs/Industry/regulators/ Governments and to Labs Comparison of test methods, creation of ITU reference test methods and alternative test methods (ITU SGs/SDOs). Overlapping/duplication issues Stimulate MRAs in the regions Analysis of the status of MRAs worldwide. Benefits of MRAs in terms of time to access markets and savings on unnecessary repeated testing worldwide. Status of the existing labs in regions. Type of testing labs Development of criteria to establish test centres in the regions Coordination with ILAC, IAF, BIPM, UNIDO, Financial Institutions and other SDOs / Forums Study new / adapt existing test suites where needed and still not available SGs, JAC-CIT Evaluate costs incurred by end users and vendors due to the lack of C&I. Services, image, market, competition Establishment of costs for the establishment / enhancement of labs in the regions and creation of regional networks Review the conformity data base and procedures according to vendors / users needs. SDO/Forums Labs Review the existing market surveillance tools Evaluation of possible financial contributions by non members to input data in the ITU Conformity Database Establishing capacity building programs in the regions creation of labs networks Review interop capabilities / technologies and C&I portal Create synergy users/vendors/regulators/SDO to improve the C&I program Preparation of the long-term Business Plan based on the dynamics of the C&I process Create criteria and procedures to prepare RFPs for private and public entities (e. g. the Germany Project) Periodical review of whole implementation of Res. 76 din function of the S-by-S parallel approach Study new tools to parallel the database and to give feedback to ITU-T SGs for standards review and studies.

A proposal: The Global Conformity and Interoperability Portal • Links to Conformity Databases from all the SDOs adehering reciprocally to this initiative • Links to ICT testing labs and accreditation organizations worldwide • Repository of global MRAs for C&I • Information on ITU and other SDOs Interop events • Contributions on best practices for testiing • Contributions from consumers/civil society

Outline 1. The Problems, where are they? 2. Contributions to the events 3. ITU Conformance Database considerations and the Step-by-step approach 4. Conclusions

Conclusions-1 • Request from Dev Countries for the immediate implementation of the Conformity DB and the creation of Interoperability DB to be linked to other similar databases • ITU-T SGs to look for other available Databases • Demonstrated how other Databases from SDOs / Forums have been implemented on the same basis of the ITU one • Concerns from vendors on the design of the DB and encourage them to improve the design before to make it public as one of the tools of the C&I program • Regions and regional organzations invited to individuate locations for test centres in the regions / sub regions (Res. 47)

Conclusions-2 • Need of active participation of Regions in the ITU-T SGs to improve Recommendations. Fellowship & remote participation available. • Need of Operators from regions to participate in the work of ITU-T to learn more about standards and how to implement them • PP-10 will analise a proposal for participation at reduced fee for members from Dev Countries • The step by step approach should not slow down the implementation of action lines of council-09 and a proposal for a parallel approach has been presented by TSB • Importance of the participation of association of consumers • Capacity Building: Tutorial in Rwanda on Optical fibers

What we said • Resolutions 76(ITU-T) and 47(ITU-D) : the reply to the needs of Developing Countries about conformity and interoperability • Conformity able to increase probability of interoperability • Created the voluntary based and free pilot conformity database to be populated since now • ITU-T interop events started • TSB committed to the implementation of the Res. 76 requirements • Capacity Building activities and creation of test centers started in cooperation with the BDT 41

Addressing interoperability is one of the very reasons for founding ITU and for which Experts in ITU-T Study Groups are engaged in developing Recommendations and test suites. There is no point in developing test suites if ITU does not give some recognition to manufactures having their equipment tested to ITU-T Recommendations TSB is committed to consulting and collaborating with all the ITU-T membership to ensure the successful implementation of Resolution 76 as endorsed by the ITU Council “It is a long and winding road but there is no turn back” 42