Achieving Technical Interoperability the ETSI Approach Hans van

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

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

Why products based on standards may not operate? q Standards are driven by contributions and often progressed in a variety of standards bodies (=multi-organizational standardization). q Consequences: Ø Ø Ø Ø 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 q ETSI Standards Engineering Process addresses these consequences 3

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

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