ITU-T e-FLASH
Telecommunication Standardization Sector
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Issue No. 32
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July 2007
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Call for Papers: Innovations in NGN
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ITU-T has issued a call for papers for an event - Innovations in Next Generation Networks - to be held
in Geneva, 12-13 May 2008, with the technical co-sponsorship of the IEEE
Communications Society. The event is the first in a
series that will increase the dialogue between academia
and experts working on the standardization of
information and communications technologies (ICT).
Awards will be granted to selected best papers, as
judged by the organizing and programme committee.
Details will be announced later.
Innovations in NGN is to inspire contributions towards a
kaleidoscopic view of communication habits for the
future. We know what NGN is in terms of the underlying
technology, but we don’t know what services will emerge,
how NGN will affect the marketplace for ICT, and how
society will be affected. The call for papers lists a
number of suggested topics.
Innovations in NGN will bring together new and visionary
ideas on the future of NGN. It will highlight
technologies, services and applications five years from
now that will capitalize on the NGN infrastructure and
will lead us to the so-called ubiquitous network society
in which information can be accessed anywhere, at
anytime, by anyone and anything. The event will also
cover multidisciplinary aspects related to the
deployment of NGN, including analysis of the regulatory
and societal challenges that the deployment of NGN will
bring.
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New online tool charts cybersecurity standards development |
ITU has developed an online tool to keep track of crucial
ICT security standards work through a single access
point. For the first time, ICT security vendors, service
providers, developers, researchers and the public will
now have security standards at their fingertips, with
one common user interface.
The guide called the
ICT Security Standards Roadmap brings together
information about existing standards and work in
progress by the world’s key standards developers. It is
a collaborative effort between ITU, the European Network
and Security Information Agency (ENISA) and the Network
and Information Security Steering Group (NISSG).
Enhancing security in cyberspace is a matter of critical
concern in an increasingly networked society. Crime on
the Internet alone has led to losses estimated at
several billion dollars, both from online theft and from
costs related to fixing networks that have been the
victim of cyberattack. Cybercrime takes several forms,
from breaching network security, financial fraud,
invasion of privacy and identity theft to virus attacks
or spam.
"There has never been a greater incentive to revitalize
the order and trust in the stability and reliability of
communications systems, and standardization in security
design for networks is a key prerequisite," said Malcolm
Johnson, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication
Standardization Bureau. "Standards-development bodies
have a unique ability to address security
vulnerabilities in ICT by bringing together all players.
As well as the publication and development of many
important security Recommendations, ITU has been behind
many open discussions on providing security guidelines
to protocol authors and identifying threats and
vulnerabilities."
The guide provides information for potential users of
security standards and other stakeholders to gain an
understanding of what standards are available or under
development as well as the key organizations that are
working in the area. This web-based tool also lists
standards-development organizations and the security
standards they publish. Acting as a central tracking
facility, it not only enables the identification of
standards and standards activities but it also fosters
coordination among standardization bodies, reducing
duplication of effort and making it easier to identify
existing gaps.
The guide, to be developed on an ongoing basis to
enhance its scope and include other standard-development
organizations, is organized in five sections:
- ICT standards development organizations and their work
- Approved ICT security standards
- Security standards under development
- Future needs and proposed new security standards
- Best practices
The standards are in a searchable database format with
links to their sources.
The launch of the ICT Security Standards Roadmap follows
the announcement last month by ITU Secretary-General Dr
Hamadoun Touré, of the ITU Global Cybersecurity Agenda.
The Global Cybesecurity Agenda is an ambitious two-year
plan to curb cybercrime.
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ITU-T Expert Group to examine International Telecommunication Regulation |
ITU-T is establishing an ''Expert Group'' which will
review the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs).
The ITRs are an international treaty whose purpose is to
promote the development of telecommunication services
and their most efficient operation while harmonizing the
development of facilities for worldwide
telecommunications. The ITU Telecommunication
Standardization Sector (ITU-T) was requested by the
Plenipotentiary Conference of 2006 to start the review
process of the ITRs, which was last updated in 1988. The
review is considered appropriate in light of the
changing ICT environment characterized by convergence of
telecoms, IT, broadcast as well as other industry
sectors and also the liberalization of telecoms markets.
The Expert Group will examine the existing ITRs. The
output of the ITU-T review will feed into a World
Conference on International Telecommunication (WCIT)
scheduled for 2012. A different process, the World
Telecommunication Policy Form (WTPF), will consider
emerging telecommunications policy and regulatory issues
with respect to international telecommunication networks
and services.
The first meeting of the Expert Group will be held in
Geneva, 10-11 October 2007. Information relating to the
expert group will be available on the ITU-T website here
. Information on the WTPF is available
here.
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Home networking progress in June |
At the June 2007 meeting of ITU-T
SG 15, work continued on
a draft new Recommendation to develop a single
international standard for home networking transceivers
using any metallic media in the home – phoneline wiring,
data cable (e.g. CAT5), coaxial cable or powerline
wiring.
Household connectivity is growing rapidly with more and more electronic
devices and networks within the home distributing and
using digital information and media. In addition, remote
control of lighting, heating, appliance-use and security
systems attached to the home are making the "digital
home" a reality.
International standards that enable interoperability and
security in the field of home networking are seen as key
to bringing value and versatility to consumers, making
possible the use of diverse products, services and
sources, and therefore accelerating market development.
Work in ITU-T is coordinated by the Joint Coordination
Activity on Home Networking (JCA-HN). Topics covered
across the 13 different Study Groups of ITU-T include
digital rights management (DRM), phone-line networking
(including co-ax), IPTV, interactive video, set top box
architecture and cable modems.
The work on ITU-T Rec - G.hn - next generation home
networking transceivers - has now attracted a critical
mass of contributors/participants with nine companies
submitting 20 contributions on various topics. It is
anticipated that G.hn will be completed in 2008.
Also at the June 2007 meeting of ITU-T SG15, it was
agreed to start work on a draft new Recommendation
G.hnta on home network transport architecture. The Rec
will give a generic architecture based on the NGN
functional architecture described in Recommendation
Y.2012 “Next Generation Networks – Frameworks and
functional architecture models” It will describe a
platform for the development of future home network
standards. The draft Recommendation G.hnta is
complementary to draft Recommendation H.ghna currently
under development by
SG 16.
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Multimedia group meets, 23 new standards |
ITU-T’s multimedia
Study Group 16 met in Geneva, July, with over twenty
standards entering the final stage of ITU-T’s approval
process. The ITU secretariat says that the meeting saw
record numbers of participants and contributions. Work
on the use of tag-based identification (including RFID)
for multimedia in particular saw great interest and
progress.
Key achievements of the meeting include the setting up
of new Questions – ITU-T’s term for work area - to
advance work on the third generation multimedia system
and a second Question on multimedia
application platforms and end systems for IPTV. See
separate stories –
Third gen multimedia system work accelerates and
Question on multimedia application platforms and end systems for IPTV.
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Third generation multimedia system work accelerates |
A new Question – ITU-T’s term for a work area - to advance
work on the third generation multimedia system that will look beyond today's
second generation systems and eventually replace the currently used H.323 will start
work pending formal approval at the next meeting of
Study Group 16.
H.323 is the ITU standard for interoperability in audio,
video and data transmissions over IP. It is the most
widely used voice over IP (VoIP) and videoconferencing communication protocol
worldwide. Systems using H.323
carry billions of voice minutes each month, to an estimated 16% of all
international VoIP calls in 2006. The rollout
of the next generation network (NGN) will bring with it
in a new era of multimedia communications and with it
the need for a new multimedia communication system.
In the mid-1990s, the ITU began work on H.323, which
quickly became the dominant protocol for LAN-based
videoconferencing, as well as a protocol used for
transporting voice calls around the world. H.323 was
developed in parallel with the Internet Engineering Task
Force’s (IETF) Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), and
was effective in facilitating a migration from
circuit-switched networks to packet-switched networks.
Sharing similar capabilities and similar design
philosophies and being produced in the same time period,
H.323 and SIP are classified as second generation
systems.
Now, more than 11 years since the introduction of second
generation systems, ITU-T SG 16 is again looking toward
the future of multimedia systems as the ITU-T also
undertakes a study to introduce the next generation
network (NGN). The NGN holds the promise of
revolutionizing communication as we know it and
multimedia will be an important part of any new network
technology.
Work on the third generation multimedia system will
entail the creation of multiple new ITU-T
Recommendations that will specify system architecture,
system components, and one or more protocols at the
service and application layer. The primary objective is
to deliver a new advanced multimedia system that
operates on NGN, taking advantage of its features, and
will also operate on non-NGN packet-switched networks.
This Question will examine technologies such as various
IP technologies, wireless technologies, and distributed
computing capabilities in order to realize a system that
will enable users to communicate using, as examples,
voice and audio, video, electronic whiteboard,
application sharing, real-time text, and file transfer
across one or more communicating devices (e.g. smart
phones, TV set-top boxes, game consoles, handheld
game/entertainment machines, digital cameras and
Internet “appliances”).
Unlike previous generation systems, this new system will
enable independent application developers to create
system components that are able to seamlessly interface
with the system in order to deliver any one or more of
the aforementioned modes of communication. There is a
strong desire to move away from the “monolithic
applications” that were distinctive of second generation
systems, to a system that enables components to “plug
in” to the system, either locally or remotely using
various wired or wireless technologies, to deliver an
enhanced user experience. To meet that objective, this
Question will study the various interfaces between these
components and the technologies that might be used to
tie them together.
The study includes among other subjects:
- Downloadable codecs
- System decomposition
- Discovery of services
- Support for transcoding functionality (e.g. text to speech)
- Dynamic device discovery
- Application plug in
- Consideration of various business models
- Integrated QoS, security and mobility functionality
Experts have set deadlines for the Identification of
Requirements - Q1/2008, and basic architecture -
Q1/2009.
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Question on Multimedia application platforms and end systems for IPTV |
A new Question – ITU-T’s term for work area – on
multimedia application platforms and end systems for
IPTV will start work pending formal approval at the next
meeting of
Study Group 16 .
Experts say that with the surge of multimedia services such as video
streaming and the desire to offer IPTV services, the
market is in serious need of standardized interoperable
solutions, especially at the multimedia applications
layer. Interoperability will provide benefit for all the
players in the value-chain, especially at the multimedia
applications layer, and encourage growth of this market.
This Question is intended to produce deliverables
related to study IPTV platforms, including, but not
restricted to middleware, applications, content formats
and their uses, which will facilitate effective and
interoperable use of the IPTV systems. The Question will
be the recipient of a number of documents from the IPTV
Focus Group and it will assimilate these into its work
program with the intention of generating a number of
standards (ITU-T Recommendations).
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Future proof G-PON |
At the June 2007 meeting of ITU-T
SG 15, a Recommendation
that helps to future proof gigabit capable passive
optical networks (G-PON) was consented.
The Recommendation, G.984.5, defines wavelength ranges
which are reserved for additional service signals to be
overlaid via wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) in
future gigabit capable passive optical networks (G-PON).
The Recommendation also specifies the wavelength
blocking filters to be implemented in optical network
terminations (ONT). These filters, together with the use
of the specified wavelength ranges, will enable network
operators to upgrade G-PON systems without a break in
service to their customers.’
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Standard extends DWDM distance |
A second standard in a new group of Recommendations from
ITU-T's
Study Group 15 extends the distance at which
multi-vendor DWDM systems can be deployed from 80 to
four or five hundred kilometres.
The first standard in the series gave network operators the ability to
deploy multi-vendor dense wavelength division
multiplexing (DWDM) systems in a metro environment. The
new Recommendation extends this to cover regional
environments by taking into account the use of optical
amplifiers and their potential to create 'optical
noise'.
WDM technology is used by the owners of optical fibres
to maximise their capacity. The technology achieves this
by simultaneously operating an optical fibre pair at
more than one wavelength and uses optical amplification
to increase transmission distances as well as optical
add/drop multiplexers to increase the flexibility of the
network. Since operators wish to maximize their cable
plant investments and deploy increasingly bandwidth
hungry services in a multi-vendor environment, standards
development in this field is seen as crucial.
The Recommendation defines values for single-channel
optical interface parameters of physical point-to-point
and ring DWDM applications on single-mode optical fibres
through the use of the "black-link" approach. The
black-links covered by this follow-on Recommendation may
contain optical amplifiers.
The transport network of most operators is based on the
use of equipment from a variety of different vendors.
Previously, for those parts of the network involving
DWDM optical transmission, this has been achieved via
the use of optical transponders which convert the single
channel interfaces like those defined in ITU-T Recs
G.957 G.691, G.693, G.959.1 into DWDM wavelengths
suitable for the particular vendor’s proprietary system.
With the optical interfaces standardized in new G.698.2
operators can directly connect a wide variety of
equipment to the DWDM line system without the need for
those additional short reach transmitter and receiver
pair per channel (eliminating the transponders) with
obvious associated cost savings.
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New Standard means reduced operating costs |
Another step towards all optical networks (AON) has been
achieved with the consent of the new Recommendation
G.680 by ITU-T's
Study Group 15.
The Recommendation will allow operators to take optical
add/drop multiplexers (OADMs) and photonic
cross-connects (PXCs) from different vendors and
integrate them in to an all optical network without
having to add expensive optical/electrical/optical
conversion (O/E/Os).
This achievement is made possible as the Rec gives
operators a way to evaluate the end-to-end quality of a
signal where photonic cross-connects (PXC) and optical
add/drop multiplexers (OADMs) are deployed. In addition,
experts say that the evolution towards an AON could
significantly reduce costs for operators by reducing the
need for costly optical/electrical/electrical (O/E/O)
conversion. As optical transport networks (OTN) evolve,
the number of - expensive - O/E/O conversions within
their boundaries is coming down.
The two main reasons for the reduction in the number of
O/E/O conversions are that DWDM systems are becoming
capable of carrying light signals for thousands of
kilometers without electrical regeneration and that PXCs
and OADMs are becoming available with the capacity,
space requirements, power consumption, reliability and
cost, suitable for their use in the telecommunication
networks. With this evolution experts predict that AONs
could extend to all potential routes of the backbone
network of a medium size country - optical paths up to
around 2,000 km.
The Recommendation defines a "degradation function" of
optical network elements (ONEs) such as photonic cross
connects (PXCs), optical add-drop multiplexers (OADMs),
etc. making up an optical network. It enables the
degradation of the signal quality in an all-optical
network consisting of ONEs including DWDM line segments
to be assessed.
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Popular fibre spec upgraded |
An upgrade to a widely used specification for fibre
optic cables will allow the simpler deployment of
Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) in FTTH applications up to 500 m
link distance. The original Recommendation ITU-T Rec
G.651 provided specifications for multimode fibre which
is currently widely deployed for data communications,
but not for telecoms.
The work was initiated given two observations; the cost
disparity between telecom and data networks, where high
speed GbE telecom equipment is often far more expensive
than datacom equipment; and the economics of rolling out
FTTH into multi-tenant (apartment) buildings where there
is a high subscriber density. Ethernet is increasingly
seen as an end-to-end technology.
Similar to recently published Rec G.657 on single mode
fibre, Recommendation G.651.1 allows for increased cable
flexibility. This increased flexibility in a fibre optic
cable means that operators can follow tighter corners in
buildings and can worry less if cables / fibres are laid
with a sharp bend. This all makes installation work more
engineer friendly leading also to less re-work. Moreover
the closures for fibres can be half the size, important
where space is at a premium especially in multi-tenant
buildings.
G.651.1 retains many of the key characteristics of its
well known predecessor. However manufacturing tolerances
and transmission characteristics have been improved
significantly. In addition, it has been harmonized fully
with relevant IEC standards.
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