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Telecoms & Internet converged Services & Protocols for
Advanced Network
Activity Report 2007
Chairman: Rainer Muench (Alcatel-Lucent)
Responsible for the standardisation of fixed Next Generation
Networks (NGN) to support multimedia services and interworking with legacy
networks and services
ETSI’s Telecommunication and Internet converged Services and
Protocols for Advanced Networking Technical Committee (TC TISPAN) benefits from
the strong support of operators, vendors, service providers and research and
government representatives, with some 150 delegates regularly attending
meetings. TC TISPAN provides the definition of NGNs principally from a European
viewpoint, but 20% of participants come from outside Europe. This large and
geographically diverse participation is recognition of the importance of TISPAN
specifications to the telecommunications community globally, and their growing
impact on developments in the industry. The market is looking for
standards-based NGN solutions to avoid bespoke clients, proprietary solutions
and interworking problems and, especially since the Global Standards
Collaboration designated ETSI the primary Standards Development Organisation (SDO)
for NGNs, it looks to ETSI for the answers.
In 2007, TC TISPAN succeeded in meeting the immense challenge of finalising a
large majority of the work on NGN Release 2. Output in 2007 was unprecedented,
with about 400 documents being issued with every meeting and around 200
revisions. Release 2 focuses on enhanced mobility and new services and content
delivery, with improved security and network management. It builds upon and
enhances the architecture of Release 1 and introduces home gateways aspects,
network support for Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and NGN solutions for
corporate networks. The few remaining issues for Release 2 are expected to be
completed early in 2008, and work has now begun on Release 3.
The main features to be included in Release 3 are not yet finalised, but are
likely to include consolidation of Voice over IP (VoIP) (including Quality of
Service, security and interworking), evolution of the IPTV Service (blended
services), Ultra Broadband (fixed and wireless) access to the NGN, interconnect
(naming, numbering) of both the Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and
non-IMS, and network harmonisation (to improve interoperability with other NGNs
and other, non-IMS networks). Release 3 will also offer increased network
resilience and robustness. The preliminary estimate is that Release 3 will be
completed by the end of 2009.
TC TISPAN worked very closely with the Third Generation Partnership Project
(3GPP™) to define a harmonised core based on IMS for both wireless and wireline
networks. This all-IP network is proving a key enabler for fixed/mobile
convergence, reducing network installation and maintenance costs and allowing
new services to be rapidly developed and deployed to satisfy new market demands.
IMS was born in 3GPP, but with exclusively mobile parentage. The scope of 3GPP
has now been extended to include “an evolved IMS developed in an access
independent manner”. To ensure that IMS continues to develop without
fragmentation of the system, in 2007, TC TISPAN effectively managed the transfer
of its work on the Common IMS to 3GPP. 3GPP and ETSI will continue to work
together on developing and validating the standards to support tomorrow’s
converged fixed and mobile high speed networks.
Work in TC TISPAN throughout 2007 was supported by a number of ETSI Specialist
Task Forces (STFs). Their achievements in 2007 include incorporating the
Universal Communications Identifier (UCI) into NGN networks, the
interoperability of IMS-Network-Network Interface (NNI) interworking, and
security and standards development in support of the eEurope secure and trusted
network environment.
Work continues on TISPAN emergency call standards, with the development of
Location Information and protocol support for emergency communications. Several
STFs are working on the testing of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)/IMS
functions and network integration, security of the electronic Threat
Vulnerability and Risk Analysis (eTVRA) database and security and identity
management in NGNs.
Priorities for future work include validation and network resilience.
In addition, good progress is being made on home devices and home networking in
a working group in TC TISPAN, and the first deliverables produced by the group
have been completed. New aspects are now being addressed such as interworking
with NGNs, specifically the effect on IMS and the synergies between home devices
and networks and enterprise networks. A top priority for the group is the
definition of standards for the customer network, concentrating on end device
interfaces. TC TISPAN is therefore seeking to involve manufacturers of consumer
electronics to broaden its perspective. To this end, it is collaborating with
relevant fora such as the DSL Forum, the Home Gateway Initiative and the Digital
Living Network Alliance (DLNA).
Co-operation also continues with the Fixed-Mobile Convergence Alliance (FMCA).
Significant progress was made in 2007 in defining network support for IPTV for
both an IMS-based and a stand-alone approach, with considerable liaison with the
Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) and the
Telecommunications Standardisation sector of the International Telecommunication
Union (ITU-T).
External co-operation is a high priority for TC TISPAN; the Committee provides
input to, and considers feedback from, other groups and SDOs such as the Open
Mobile Alliance (OMA) and the ITU-T.
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