ITU-T e-FLASH
Telecommunication Standardization Sector |
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| Issue No. 29 |
January 2007 |
Trial period for free ITU-T Recommendations starts
From the beginning of 2007, ITU-T Recommendations will be available without charge for a trial period.
With only a small number of exceptions all in-force Recommendations will be available in PDF form via a simple mouse click.
There is a general belief that the strategic importance of making on-line access to ITU-T Recommendations free outweighs the costs (in terms of lost revenue) to ITU. This is seen as a way to increase the transparency of ITU-T work and encourage wider participation in ITU-T activities. It is also believed that this policy will help increase developing countries' awareness of pertinent issues and help to promote the participation of academia in ITU-T work.
ITU-T Recommendations are available
here.
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ID management group aims to bring harmony
Following ITU-T’s
Workshop on Digital Identity for NGN Geneva, 5 December 2006 a decision has been made to set up a
Focus Group on Identity Management
(IdM) under the parentage of
Study Group
17.
Digital identity refers to the online representation of a user’s or network element’s identity and the identity of those that the user or network element interacts with. It does not mean the positive validation of a person. Information regarding device identities is becoming an increasingly valuable commodity, and as a consequence, its protection and management are vital to a healthy and inclusive digital world.
There are different approaches for representing identities and different identity management frameworks. The lack of a common view on digital identity and its management has so far resulted in incompatible applications.
The Focus Group will explore mechanisms that allow different frameworks to interoperate together. Experts said there is a need to identify current gaps in proposed solutions. For example, IdM solutions that involve the telecom network level and in general lower layers have not been addressed sufficiently, they said. The Focus Group will act as a platform for an exchange of information in order to bring about necessary harmonisation.
All standards organizations and developer forums involved in identity management worldwide, including institutes, forums, companies, experts and individuals regardless of whether ITU members or not are encouraged to participate.
The first meeting of the FG IdM is scheduled to take place at ITU Headquarters, in Geneva, from 13 to 16 February 2007.
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Cybersecurity defined
Study Group 17 has initiated the approval process for a standard providing an overview of cybersecurity. The work establishes a definition of cybersecurity that is wide enough in scope to cover various and sometimes inconsistent definitions.
The Recommendation (X.1205) provides a taxonomy of security threats from an organization’s point of view. Cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities including the most common hacker’s tools of the trade are presented. Threats are discussed at various network layers.
Various Cybersecurity technologies to remedy threats are discussed including: routers, firewalls, antivirus protection, intrusion detection systems, intrusion protection systems, secure computing and audit and monitoring. Network protection principles such as defense in depth, access management with application to Cybersecurity are also discussed. Risk management strategies and techniques are discussed including the value of training and education in protecting the network. In addition examples for securing various networks based on the
technologies covered are also given.
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IP Cablecom 2 among SG 9 announcements
ITU-T’s Study Group 9 has approved an array of Recommendations in several areas including broadband IP multimedia services and next generation digital set top box architectures.
Study Group experts say that the advancements will greatly extend the service capabilities of broadband cable and other networks. The Recommendations were approved by ITU-T Study Group 9, Integrated Broadband Cable Networks and Television and Sound Transmission, during its October meeting in Tokyo.
SG 9’s Recommendations include key work in IPCablecom2, modular CMTS (cable modem termination systems), next generation video set-tops, and architecture for deploying an IP multicast video distribution network using network layer route diversity.
IPCablecom is a project initiated by SG 9 several years ago on time-critical interactive services over cable television networks using IP. It is a suite of Recommendations (J.160-178) which provides for telephony, and J.179 (IPCablecom Multi Media), which creates a bridge that allows for the expansion into a full range of
multimedia services.
IPCablecom2 is contained in a new suite of Recommendations (J.360-363 and J.365-366) and is designed to support the convergence of voice, video, data, and mobility technologies through a modular non-service specific approach. This modular approach allows operators flexibility to deploy network capabilities as required by their specific service offerings, while maintaining interoperability across a variety of devices from multiple suppliers.
These new Recommendations define an architecture and a set of open interfaces that leverage emerging communications technologies, such as the session initiation protocol (SIP), to support the rapid introduction of new IP-based services onto the cable network. IPCablecom2 is also based on Release 6 of the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), as developed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), which is a SIP-based architecture for providing multimedia services.
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IP Multicast Rec from Study Group 9
Study Group 9 recently approved a Recommendation on IP multicast.
IP multicast is seen as a promising technology for providing IP-based video distribution because of its bandwidth efficiency while accommodating millions of clients.
Recommendation J.283 provides a set of architectural concepts for constructing and meeting the service quality requirement of a stable IP-based video distribution network. It uses network layer (Layer-3) route diversity between the server edge routers and the client edge routers.
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Set-top box Recommendations approved
Three new Recommendations providing architecture for advanced set-top boxes have been approved by
Study Group
9.
The Recommendations (J.290-J.292) take into account advances in technologies and architectures for delivery of multiple types of services – including video, voice and data. The three include a core Recommendation along with two adjuncts which provide for a cable solution and a media independent solution. The core document (J.290) describes key functional aspects of the next generation set-top box (STB), such as configurable security including downloadable conditional access, advanced codecs, video over IP, QoS control and extension of these functions to in-home networks.
J.291 describes the cable network architecture component of the next-generation STB. When combined with companion Recommendation J.290 the architecture defines a cost-efficient platform with capacity and flexibility to support growth of on-demand video, high definition digital TV, managed in-home networks connecting a wide range of consumer-provided devices, and future IP multimedia services including IP voice, video telephony, and multiplayer gaming. It reflects key functional aspects of the next generation cable STB, such as a common application platform (globally executable MHP (Multimedia Home
Platform)), which is the common core among OCAP (OpenCable project), MHP and ARIB (Association of Radio Industries and Businesses), MPEG (Moving Picture Expert Group) transport including advanced compression technology, and downloadable conditional access (configurable security).
J.292 describes a core architecture that is not dependent on transport media for a next generation STB which will allow service providers to offer existing and new advanced services regardless of the transport media. In this Recommendation it is assumed that all contents are transported on IP packets with an adequate QoS controlled mechanism. The Recommendation reflects key functional aspects of the next generation STB, such as network resource adaptability, secure two-way authenticated communication and session resource management and a QoS-control mechanism.
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New Home Networking Spec
ITU-T’s
Study Group 15 has consented
a revision to a home networking specification that increases data rates over existing home wiring to 320 Megabits per second.
The original standard (ITU-T Recommendation G.9954) is based on input from the
HomePNA
alliance. The revision adds home networking over existing coax cables to networking over phone wires. The revision also includes new operating spectrums adding VDSL coexistence to the ADSL, POTS and broadcast TV channel spectrum coexistence provided by the original standard.
G.9954 facilitates interoperability and convergence of all networked IP data in the home by creating open, interoperable standards and best practices for a universal home networking market. Telephone service providers have collaborated with residential gateway, set-top box, bridge, consumer electronics (CE) equipment, and ONT manufacturers, as well as their component providers, to meet consumer demand for bundled multimedia home networking.
Home networking bandwidth requirements will steadily increase as operators deliver multi-stream high-definition content, upgrade last-mile access network technologies, and provision future IP-based services. Leveraging existing home wires, service providers can reduce installation, operational expenses and even end-user costs. Experts say that 320 Mbps can accommodate the future bandwidth requirements of service providers as they enhance their offerings with additional features and capabilities.
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New work topic starts in Study Group 16
Study Group 16 will start work in a new area, generic sound activity detection (GSAD).
Voice activity detection (VAD) is widely used in telecommunications networks as a means of differentiating between wanted and unwanted in-band audio signals, for example to obtain trunking efficiency in circuit multiplication equipment; to ensure correct operation of echo control and other signal enhancement devices etc.
The proposal for generic sound activity detection (GSAD) is motivated by two
problems:
1. With rapid changes in the telecommunication network environment, more and more multimedia services are being provided. Although the network is evolving from a voice to a multimedia network, most VAD algorithms are still mainly designed to handle voice signals and cannot work properly in the presence of rich audio signals, which include voice, music, background environmental noise, information tones etc.
2. Historically, VAD algorithms have been developed separately for individual network elements and applications, and there are currently numerous VAD algorithms. However, they are based on different principles, which make it difficult to provide common performance enhancements across all VADs.
Therefore it is seen as beneficial to develop a generic sound (rather than voice) activity detector, which can be applied across a range of applications. The benefits from a standardised GSAD are predicted to be:
· Enhanced performance to deal with new types of in-band audio signals
· Reduced development time and cost for new equipment requiring sound activity detection, eg codecs, circuit multiplication equipment, echo control, signal enhancement devices, VoIP gateways, terminal adapters etc.
· Opportunity for use in existing speech and audio coders which do not include VAD.
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Reorganisation of ITU videocoding work
The November meeting of
Study Group 16 saw a significant reshaping of the group’s media coding work according to experts.
The wording of the title of the Question – ITU-T’s term for work area – has changed from Video to Visual Coding. This is to incorporate work in the areas of still image, graphics, computer displays
and medical imaging as well as the more traditional video sequences.
The Question is home to video coding spec H.264 and an amendment to that Recommendation was made to give new profiles supporting H.264’s use in high-end studio applications that use the 4:4:4 color sampling system.
From the official wording of Question 6/16: “This Question will focus on the maintenance and extension of existing video and still-image coding Recommendations, and laying the ground for new Recommendations using advanced techniques to significantly improve the trade-offs between bit rate, quality, delay, and algorithm complexity. Video, still-image, and other visual coding standards will be developed with sufficient flexibility to accommodate a diverse number of transport types (Internet, LAN, Mobile, ISDN, GSTN, H.222.0, NGN, etc.).”
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Next generation cable modem work starts
Three new Recommendations from ITU-T’s
Study Group 9 provide the first steps towards the next generation of cable modems. According to SG insiders new cable modems will boost bandwidth, increase security and provide greater flexibility overall for network operators to deploy data services.
Recommendations J.210-J.212 provide a basis for modularizing cable modem termination systems (CMTS) and were designed as an extension to the DOCSIS Recommendations to allow for flexibility and independent scaling of certain CMTS functions.
DOCSIS (data over cable service interface specifications) – defined in Recommendations J.112 and J.122 - specifies transmission systems for interactive cable television services - IP cable modems. It defines the requirements for the two fundamental components that comprise a high-speed data-over-cable system: the cable modem (CM) and the CMTS.
The modular-CMTS (M-CMTS) architecture splits the CMTS function into three fundamental components: the M-CMTS Core, the EQAM (downstream modulator), and the Timing Server. Inasmuch as the modular components may be located on different chassis, and potentially at different physical locations, the new Recommendation J.211 (Timing Interface for CMTS) provides the robust and highly accurate transport of timing signals from the Timing Server to the other components of the M-CMTS network in order to ensure that the system components work in lock-step.
Recommendation J.212 defines the protocol used to tunnel downstream user data across an Ethernet network between the M-CMTS Core and EQAM. Finally, the new Recommendation J.210 defines the downstream physical layer modulator requirements for the EQAM.
Another new Recommendation in the DOCSIS series, J.213, describes requirements on both CMTSs and CMs in order to implement a Layer-2 Virtual Private Network feature which allows operators to offer a Transparent LAN Service along the lines of Carrier Ethernet.
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