1. Marco Carugi Senior Advisor – Nortel, Carrier Networks
FORUM ON NEXT GENERATION STANDARDIZATION (Colombo, Sri Lanka, 7-10 April 2009)
Interconnection and interoperability aspects of NGN
Marco Carugi
Senior Advisor – Nortel, Carrier Networks
Colombo, Sri Lanka, 7-10 April 2009

2. Talks in agenda
“The importance of interoperability” – G. Koleyni, ITU expert (Independent Telecom consultant)
“Relevance of interconnection in NGN environment” – H.C. Soni, Vice President, ITU-APT Foundation of India
“The need of interoperability within an NGN – an approach” – R. Dayal, Director, TEC, Department of Telecommunications, India
“NGN interconnection” - S.K. Gupta, Advisor (Converged Network), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
Colombo, Sri Lanka, 7-10 April 2009

3. Highlights from Presentation 1 “The importance of interoperability”
Implementations based on global standards should be interoperable (but it may not be true)
When procuring NGN or IPTV devices, care should be taken to assure interoperability
i.e. products based on an open standard and backed up by certification
ITU-T targets open and global standards
Increases chance of interoperability
May reduce implementation cost
ITU-T considers support of interoperable devices a major objective of its activities
Colombo, Sri Lanka, 7-10 April 2009

4. Highlights from Presentation 2 “Relevance of interconnection in NGN environment”
Current interconnection approach has numerous issues, including suboptimal resource usage, complexity, and CAPEX and OPEX increase
Shared NGN Interconnect Exchanges (ICE), upfront of some implementation issues, can provide benefits
cost reduction, billing integration, service convergence and easy service provisioning in multi-operator scenarios, improved QoS, reduced down time and others
NGN ICE implementation will require some light redefinition of Regulator and Licenser terms, and participation of all stakeholders
In the future, we may have
more differentiated roles among the various actors participating in NGN provisioning and operations
different NGN entities maintained by different specialized people, conveniently and in the cheapest way
Colombo, Sri Lanka, 7-10 April 2009

5. Interoperability is needed within NGN
Highlights from Presentation 3 “The need of interoper ability within an NGN – an approach”
Interoperability is needed within NGN
More network modularity and competition, faster and smooth deployment
Aim to have interoperability as natural outcome of conformance to standards
Standards need to be categorized e.g. for ‘Protocol’, ‘Network’, ‘Equipment’, ‘Services’
To develop templates & checklists to address interoperability
Need to work out mechanisms for:
Testing of Standards - before final approval
may be those required for interoperability, testing infrastructure
Feedback from developers, implementers, users, testing etc.
Synergy of related activities at ITU & SDOs. e.g. JCA-CIT, SG-17,SG-11, ITTC, Res. 44
Colombo, Sri Lanka, 7-10 April 2009

6. Highlights from Presentation 4 “NGN interconnection”
Numerous issues of NGN interconnection, including
Interoperability when multiple protocols
Application-Network open interface
Security and QoS at interconnect and end-to end
Signaling protocols compatibility
Many aspects not addressed in current interconnect offers
Session Border Controllers address various aspects, incl.
Signaling and media path management, scalability, security, regulatory provisions, SLAs with peers or customers
Some challenging interconnection requirements for NGN
Numbering/addressing, Charging on functional and application basis
Way forward includes
Regional coordination (what left for country specific needs/ future reqts)
Development of local certifying agencies / test labs for interface approval
Mandate use of only approved interfaces in NGN networks
Coordination with vendors to overcome bottleneck and foster competition
Colombo, Sri Lanka, 7-10 April 2009

7. Conclusions / Recommendations
Open and global standards, and interoperability are crucial for NGN
Numerous and challenging interconnect issues still to be worked out
Shared Interconnect Exchanges and Session Border Controllers address a number of these issues
Way forward at international level - standardisation
To make interoperability as natural outcome of conformance to standards
To adapt standards documentation, to test standards
Proactive participation in standardisation, incl. from regulators
Way forward at regional level
Coordination (country specific flexibility, involvement of all actors)
Local certifying agencies and test labs for interface approval
Mandate usage of only approved interfaces
Colombo, Sri Lanka, 7-10 April 2009