1. 1 Achieving Technical Interoperability - the ETSI Approach Hans van der Veer ETSI Board Interoperability Champion

2. 2 What Interoperability means to ETSI A definition (ETSI TISPAN) Interoperability is the ability of equipment from different manufacturers (or different systems) to communicate together on the same infrastructure, or another while roaming Different categories of Interoperability: Technical interoperability, Syntactical interoperability, Semantic interoperability and Organizational interoperability. ETSI Addresses Technical Interoperability and where appropriate Syntactical Interoperability Ensures – through a constant review and improvement of its practices – Interoperable Standards

3. 3 Why products based on standards may not operate? Standards are driven by contributions and often progressed in a variety of standards bodies (=multi-organizational standardization). Consequences: Incompleteness Inadequate interfaces (reference points) Poor handling of options Lack of clarity Poor maintenance Lack of system overview Using standards beyond their original purposes Varying quality ETSI Standards Engineering Process addresses these consequences

4. 4 Building Interoperability into Standards Manage for Interoperability Ensure good project management Specify for Interoperability. Ensure application of Good working practices, e.g. 3-stage approach, develop comprehensive architectural overview, use good protocol design techniques Pragmatic specification techniques e.g. UML, MSC, SDL, ASN.1 Validate for Interoperability, e.g. Through technical reviews and simulation Through the development of test specifications Through interoperability events Test for Interoperability via the development of Conformance test specifications (=unit testing) Interoperability test specifications (=system testing) Maintain for Interoperability (e.g. CR procedure) ETSI support through e.g. FCC, RCC, MCC, PTCC, Plugtests and TC MTS

5. 5 Specific ETSI Initiatives and support for Interoperability A series of interoperability workshops Definition of Open Standards, IPR The well-established Technical Committee MTS The ETSI Protocol and Testing Competence Centre The ETSI Plugtests TM service The appointment by the ETSI Board of a Champion for Interoperability White paper on Interoperability Review of standards engineering process