1. NGN Interoperability TIA DEL DOCUMENT #:
GSC14-PLEN-012 TIA NGN Interoperability
FOR:
Presentation GSC-14
SOURCE:
TIA
AGENDA ITEM:
OPEN PLEN 6.11
CONTACT(S):
Dan Bart
NGN Interoperability
TIA DEL

2. Overview (1)
TIA believes the subject of “Interoperability” is an important facet of all of TIA’s standards work.
In our Sector, if we do not have INTEROPERABILTY we have failed as Standards Developers!
But “Interoperability” is a complex area with many facets.
A STANDARDIZATION SYSTEM includes not only the process of the development of the standard, but also the conformity assessment activities to ensure that products or systems built to a standard actually conform to that standard.
However, good standards and conformity assessment, while necessary for interoperability, are not in themselves sufficient to ensure interoperability for many, many reasons. 2

3. Overview (2)
Sometimes standards have options or alternatives, so while built to a standard, and conforming to a standard, if the correct end-to-end choices are not made, there may not be interoperability between two standards-conforming products.
There can be many other reasons why there can be interoperability issues:
The standard had an error
The product was built with an error -- design error
The standard failed to specify a critical technical parameter
The two implementers interpreted the standard differently
The entity doing the testing for conformity or interoperability made a mistake in the testing
The specifications for the testing activities had an error in say test scripts or protocols
The specifications for the testing activities did not specify a critical parameter necessary for interoperability
The customer made changes after the product was installed
Etc., etc., 3

4. Overview (3)
TIA experiences with Interoperability in the real world are that the issues affecting interoperability can be at any layer of the ISO OSI Seven-Layer Model
7.) Application
6.) Presentation
5.) Session
4.) Transport
3.) Network
2.) Data Link
1.) Physical
All TIA Engineering Committees deal with some aspects of interoperability 4

5. Interop Activities at TIA
To demonstrate how Interoperability affects many areas of standardization at TIA, not just NGN, take PLEN-05a1, the TIA Standards and Technology Annual Report (STAR) I mentioned in the TIA PSO report, and search the PDF for the words “Interoperability” and “Interoperable,” and you will see that need exists across TIA technical groups.
In addition, TIA and TIA members have participated in many external activities concerned with Interoperability:
For many years TIA and TIA members participated on the FCC’s NRC/NRIC, which was most recently called “Network Reliability and INTEROPERABILITY Council”
Now replaced by the “Communications Security, Reliability, and INTEROPERABILITY Council,” (CSRIC) 5

6. Interop Activities at TIA - External
Before it was retired last year, for many years TIA and TIA members participated on ATIS’s Internetwork Interoperability Test Coordination (IITC) Committee, and its Steering Committee.
IITC provided an open forum in which North American telecommunications industry service providers, vendors, and the user community communicated. This committee coordinated internetwork, interoperability testing of telecommunications services and architectures resulting from the introduction of new network interconnections and technologies
Many TIA members are multi-nationals supporting many SDOs
ETIS Press Release July 9, 2009, “Plug and Play" interoperability of Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Networks (GPON) “ confirmed a "plug and play“ interoperability between various vendors' products.”
“The decision to create an OMCI (Optical Network Termination (ONT) Management and Control Interface) Implementers’ Guide, which is now an ITU-T Standard, has been for FSAN the key element for the achievement of a full OMCI interoperability,”
Of 14 vendors listed, 10 are also TIA Members 6

7. Continue to support interoperability at TIA
Strategic Direction
Continue to support interoperability at TIA 7

8. Next Steps/Actions
Continuing cooperation among all PSOs and groups working on Interoperability
TIA formulating groups are continuing to develop standards that can be used to promote interoperability and facilitate interconnection. This includes contributing to the ITU and global standards efforts.
TIA will continue to outreach to others to inform them regarding technologies, applications, and the standards from TIA
TIA will continue to partner with other PSOs and the ITU on efforts that effectively promote interoperability, innovation, competition, and cost-effective infrastructure deployment to address market needs on a timely basis 8

9. Proposed Resolution
Will determine based on HIS Panel Discussions 9

10. Supplemental Slides 10

11. Samples of recent TR-45 Standards
TIA-878-A-2, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD) Interoperability Specification (IOS) Radio Access Network Interfaces with Session Control in the Access Network
TIA-1878-A-2, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD) Interoperability Specification (IOS) Radio Access Network Interfaces with Session Control in the Packet Control Function
TIA , Interoperability Specification (IOS) for Ultra Mobile Broadband™ (UMB) Radio Access Network Interface
TIA-2006-A-1, Broadcast Multicast (BCMCS) Interoperability Specification (IOS)
TIA-1043-A, Over-the-Air Interoperability Specification for cdma2000® Air Interface

12. TR-8 Activity and Standards
Subcommittee TR-8.25, Compliance Assessment, is responsible for standards for compliance assessment and interoperability issues.
Within the last year, the subcommittee has published TIA-102.CABC-A, Project 25 Interoperability Testing for Voice Operation in Trunked Systems.
In addition, nine documents are in the publication process

13. TR-34 Activity and Standards
TR-34.1, Communications and Interoperability subcommittee, addresses inter-service spectrum sharing for achieving interoperability between satellite systems, as well as among satellite and terrestrial systems, networks, and services