Next meeting of Study Group 6 - Outside Plant and related indoor installations

Geneva, 12 - 16 December 2005

Registration Form

See TSB Collective-letter 2/6 for more information.

Study Group 6 Home

Apple's new video iPod launched in the first half of October uses the ITU-T H.264 video codec.

Apple’s support for the standard goes back some years. As early as 2002, Tim Schaaff, vice president of the interactive-media group at Apple Computer Inc., speaking at industry event IBC, said H.264 is "no doubt the best codec there is, offering a great coding efficiency."

The video compression standard (full name H.264 or MPEG-4 pt.10/ AVC) jointly developed by ITU-T and the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) is now being deployed in products from companies including Apple, Sony, BT, France Telecom, Intel, Motorola, Nokia, Polycom, Samsung, Tandberg and Toshiba.

H.264/AVC is the first truly scalable video codec, delivering excellent quality across the entire bandwidth spectrum - from high definition television to videoconferencing and 3G mobile multimedia. The dramatically increased compression performance of H.264 will enable existing applications like videoconferencing, streaming video over the Internet, and digital television on satellite and cable to offer better quality video at lower cost. It will also allow new video applications such as high-definition TV (HDTV) broadcasts, high-definition films on DVD, video on mobile phones, and videoconferencing over low bandwidth connections that were previously impractical because of economics or technology.

Next meeting of Study Group 5 - Protection against electromagnetic environment effects

Geneva, 12 - 16 December 2005

Registration Form

See TSB Collective-letter 2/5 for more information.

Study Group 5 Home

AAP Announcement UPDATE NOTIFICATION

The following files relative to AAP have been updated since 2005-10-14

Group : aap
updated :          2005-10-14 18:31:06      
title :          [023] AAP Announcement No. 23, 16 October 2005 (SG 4, 13, 16)
url :          http://www.itu.int/itudoc/itu-t/aap/announce/05-08/023.html
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Note : This is an automatic message for ITU-T/TSB Alternative Approval Process

 - For further questions, please contact TSB EDH at tsbedh@itu.int
 - For documentation, go to http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/aap/index.html
 - Comments on Recommendations under AAP should be submitted by filling the appropriate forms in each Study Group AAP web page and sent to the relevant Study Group email address

More on AAP

The roadmap will provide an insight into how NGN management will differ from the management of traditional telecommunication. And as specifications are added this picture will become clearer, experts said.

The NGN Management Specification Roadmap is an output of the NGN Management Focus Group, a group sponsored by ITU-T SG 4. The document identifies the various existing, or work-in-progress specifications relevant to NGN management. These specifications are not all ITU-T Recommendations, but also come from other standards making bodies with expertise in defining management interfaces. For example, the roadmap tags the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) specs for mobile telephony relevant to the IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) management. IMS is expected to be a key building block for NGN specifications.

An additional and important feature of the document is that it provides gap analysis, identifying areas where standards are still needed, and also identifies overlapping specifications requiring harmonization.

The aim is for the roadmap to be a living document at this time, which is part of the reason that it hasn’t been turned into an official ITU document – like a Recommendation. Another reason for not giving the document ‘normative’ status is so that non-members can enjoy free access to it.

What: ITU together with sponsors BT, Cisco, Lucent Technologies, Motorola, Nortel and Siemens is holding a one day event to mark a new milestone in ITU's work on next-generation networks (NGN). The event will present an overview of NGN work so far, details on future direction and some of the business drivers for NGN. In addition to announcing this completion of work on the Release 1 standards for NGN by ITU-T's Focus Group on Next-Generation Networks (FGNGN), the event will communicate the next phase of NGN work to be progressed under the banner of the NGN Global Standards Initiative (NGN-GSI).

Morning sessions will focus on technical aspects of the NGN work, while the afternoon will be devoted to market/business drivers. Registration is required.

When: 18 November, 2005

Where: Hilton, Gatwick, London, UK

Why: Operators from around the globe are implementing NGN strategies and plan to invest billions of dollars in the eventual rollout of new packet-based networks. Their involvement in global standards stimulates innovation and superior technology; enables interoperability allowing multi-vendor product offering; and protects current and future investment.

The operators, systems vendors and governments that have driven this standardization work see NGN as delivering substantial cost savings due to the economies of scope inherent in a single converged network. They believe that standards will facilitate an open market for systems, lowering costs and allowing a mix and match approach to implementation, while also allowing interoperability on a global scale. NGN will see consumers benefit from innovative new services, greater control and personalisation, ease of migration between services as well as offering continuity for existing services. 

Who: The event is aimed at those involved in product planning and service creation, whether from systems vendors or service providers. Typically that will mean systems designers or product implementers from systems vendors and those involved in service development from service providers.  Media/analysts wishing to attend please contact toby.johnson@itu.int.