Introduction

ITU-T is hosting a Workshop and Demonstration of Advances in ICT Standards for Public Warning in collaboration with the OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) at the ITU headquarters in Geneva, 19-20 October 2006.

Objectives

The specific objectives for the Workshop and Demonstration are:

• To review progress concerning public warning since 2003, including the Tampere Convention.
• To demonstrate the availability and effectiveness of interoperable technologies based on the OASIS Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) content standard which is applicable to all alerts and notifications in disasters and emergency situations.
• To identify existing standardization gaps, including authorization and authentication of public warnings and the attendant implications for public policy.
• To prepare an action list for filling gaps and promoting public warning standardization, and identify key players that could collaborate in such work.

More details

ITU-T Workshops and Seminars

Joint Coordination Activity on Network Aspects of Identification Systems (including RFID) (JCA-NID) Input Documents
 
   No.  Title

   14   Development models of network aspects of identification systems (including RFID) (NID) and proposal on approach for the standardization

   15   A Proposed NID Service Reference Architecture and Some Terminologies

   16   Next Steps of Networked ID Standardization Activity in ITU-T on the Basis of the Analysis of Networked ID Applications

   17   Summary of the results from TSAG and mission of JCA-NID

   18   Proposed Working Structure of JCA-NID

   19   A Focus Group Proposal for NID-related standardization activities

   20   Draft Agenda for the 1st JCA-NID meeting

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A new standard that speeds up video calls on 3G devices has been published by ITU-T.

The new standard, Annex K of Recommendation H.324, also known as media oriented negotiation acceleration (MONA) addresses the problem of long set up times for video calls that many perceive as stalling consumer acceptance. H.324 is used in 3G networks to exchange real-time and bi-directional video traffic

Without the new technique a typical video session required each end to send up to ten messages to the other terminal, each time waiting for a message to be received and acknowledged before sending the next one. And, if a message was not received, the sending device had to wait and finally time out before retransmitting. This could introduce delays of up to eight seconds according to experts.

MONA follows in the footsteps of another ITU-T standard – reported here – WNSRP (described in Annex A/H.324), which was a first step towards addressing the problem. WNSRP cut delays down to three seconds, while the techniques deployed in MONA will reduce that to one second or less.

Interoperability between equipment using the ITU-T Recommendation G.984 for passive optical network (G-PON) has been demonstrated at an independent test laboratory, KTL in Santa Clara, California.

PON technology is used in the local loop to connect residential and SME end users premises in an all-fibre network. The event organized by the Full Service Access Network (FSAN) Group demonstrated service level interoperability between several vendors.

ITU-T Recommendation G.984 enables line rates of 2.5 Gbps in the downstream (central office to customer) and 1.2 Gbps in the upstream (customer to central office) to handle the bandwidth requirements for services like HD IPTV, online-gaming, Ethernet services, VoIP and TDM over fibre. In addition it offers more efficient IP and Ethernet handling.

FSAN together with ITU have hosted a series of B-PON and G-PON interoperability events over the years. The recent event, involved voice, data and IPTV testing between the following system vendors: Calix, Cambridge Industries Group, Entrisphere, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Huawei, Iamba Networks, Mitsubishi Electric, NEC, Siemens, Terawave. Shenick provided IPTV and data testing with quality of experience (QoE) and performance assessment. Spirent provided its triple play test solution to verify voice, video, and data service performance and functionality with 'real world' scenarios. Corning provided the complete optical distribution network (ODN) for the event, including the optical fibre, cable, splitters, cabinet, terminal distribution system, and connectorized drop cables.

The multi-vendor G-PON systems were used to transport voice, data and IPTV between the optical networking terminals (ONTs) and the optical line terminals (OLTs). Service provisioning of triple-play services was done via the ONT management and control interface (OMCI). Detailed test cases where used to verify quality and performance of services in a multi-vendor environment.

"We are very pleased with the achievement of VoIP and IPTV as well as other services working across a mix of vendor equipment," said Michael Brusca, Verizon Communications, Chair FSAN Interoperability Task Group. "We have overcome the challenge of OMCI interoperability that built on our previous physical layer testing, within a year after specifying its enhancements. G-PON is now mature and ready for mass deployment."

Don Clarke, 21CN chief access designer for BT Wholesale: "We are actively supporting FSAN and the ITU-T in their endeavor to achieve interoperability for GPON equipment. Interoperability will help drive down costs and leverage innovation in the customer termination space."

A public G-PON Interop Showcase is planned for ITU TELECOM WORLD 2006 this December in Hong Kong.

Mobility is a crucial part of the service capabilities within the next generation network (NGN) concept. The ITU-T Recommendation notes: “… with the massive growth in the number of users and the continuing deployment of heterogeneous systems the demand to provide seamless services to the NGN users gets stronger…”.

The Recommendation - Q.1706 - describes the requirements for providing ‘mobility management’, that is the set of functions used to provide mobility. These functions include authentication, authorization, location updating, paging and download of user information. The aim of this work is to build on the current mechanisms in cellular telephone systems and the internet and to move toward homogeneity in handling mobility across the converging telecommunication and computing environments.

The next step for SG 19 will be a Recommendation describing the framework for achieving mobility management based on these requirements. SG management suggests that this work is progressing well and will probably be achieved in time for the next round of approvals targeted to be initiated at a meeting in April 2007.

Study Group 13 will publish a Recommendation that acts as an umbrella to progress work on all aspects of multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) management. 

MPLS is seen as an important way to simplify traffic engineering in NGN. ITU-T Recommendation Y.1714 provides a framework for management and operation administration maintenance (OAM) in MPLS. OAM mechanisms facilitate network operation and troubleshooting. Standards-based OAM features that will allow for interoperability between different vendors are seen as a requirement for carriers adopting MPLS.

Referring to the telecommunication management network (TMN) model developed by ITU-T’s Study Group 4, the Recommendation’s scope is limited to those components and interfaces that interface between network elements (user and control plane), and between network elements and element management system (EMS) and network management system (NMS).

ITU-T Recommendation H.460.21 provides a message broadcast mechanism in H.323 systems, which are widely deployed worldwide for Voice over IP (VoIP) communications. This mechanism is akin to that of Cell Broadcast for mobile systems and can be used by network operators and service providers to deliver early warning messages to a large number of users without causing overload of the underlying network infrastructure.

Since the method utilizes standard Internet multicast procedures, the feature may be used on a wide scale to reach any number of H.323 endpoints throughout the world. Thus, the feature could be used to equal effect as an intercom like function in an enterprise or a notification system to geographically dispersed terminals.

A webpage with information on work progress on internationalized domain names (IDN) charting achievements and acquired knowledge in the field has been published by ITU-T's Study Group 17.

Study Group 17 (Security, languages and telecommunication software) was instructed by Resolution 48 of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (Florianópolis, 2004) to study IDN. It is considered that implementation of IDN will contribute to easier and greater use of the Internet in those countries where the native or official languages are not represented in IRA (International Reference Alphabet) characters.

To meet this obligation, Study Group 17 developed new Question 16, Internationalized Domain Names tasked in particular to investigate all relevant issues in the field of IDN. Question 16 was approved at the April 2006 Study Group 17 meeting in Jeju, Korea.

At the Jeju meeting, SG17 drafted a questionnaire which was issued by the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau as a Circular letter to Member States, requesting information on their experiences in the use of IDN. The deadline for questionnaire responses is 1 October, 2006.

SG 17 page for Internationalized Domain Names (IDN).

Introduction

At the kind invitation of the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), the International Telecommunications Union - Standardization Bureau (ITU-T) and the International Telecommunication Union - Development Bureau (ITU-D) are jointly organizing a Workshop on “Next Generation Networks” which will take place from 3-5 October 2006 inclusive, at the Markham Suites Hotels, Dar-Es-Salaam, in the United Republic of Tanzania.

The objectives of the seminar are twofold: first, to discuss the current trends, status and future evolution of Next Generation Networks technology and standardization, as being addressed by the ITU-T and share the experiences of NGN design, development and deployment. Central to these are: what areas of technology innovation hold the greatest promise for NGNs; what are the most innovative applications and services possible with NGNs? To this effect, issues revolving around NGN architecture, NGN technology and quality of service requirements, as well as evolution will be explored. Second, as NGNs are a major departure from the network today - these developments will likely change the ways of the telecommunication sector operates, NGN regulatory and policy issues for developing countries to exploit its full potential for development will also be discussed.

More details

ITU-T Workshops and Seminars

Joint Coordination Activity on Network Aspects of Identification Systems (including RFID) (JCA-NID) Input Documents
  
   No.  Title

1. Circular letter
2. Contributions related to RFID
3. TSAG WP 4 Report (TSAG-R16)
4. TSAG-TD-GEN-0261: Final draft for "Proposed ITU-T strategy for standardization issues on network aspects of identification with harmonized standardization cooperation"
5. TSAG-TD-GEN-0314: Report for Business Models and Service Scenarios for network aspects of identification (including RFID)
6. TSAG-TD-GEN-0315: Final draft for "Review report of standardization issues on network aspects of identification including RFID"
7. TSAG-TD-GEN-0316: Final draft for "Proposed ITU-T strategy for standardization issues on network aspects of identification with harmonized standardization cooperation"
8. TSAG-TD-GEN-0317: Convener’s report on the work of the Correspondence Group on network aspects of identification (including RFID)
9. Tentative list of topics of common interest
10. List of contact points for the participating entities (not yet available)
11. LS on information from Daidalos
12. LS on ITU-T studies on security aspects of NGN Identity Management (IdM)
13. LS on Y.idserv-reqts (NGN service requirements for ID-based applications)

JCA-NID Home

Second meeting of the FG IPTV (Busan, Republic of Korea, 16-20 October 2006)

Input Documents

FG IPTV-ID-0105: Liaison Statement to ITU-T IPTV WG 6
[Source: Convenor, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG11] Posted: 2006-08-10

FG IPTV-ID-0106: ITU-T Study Group 13 response on QoS and Performance work for IPTV
[Source: ITU-T Study Group 13 (Geneva, 17-28 July 2006)] Posted: 2006-08-10

FG IPTV-ID-0107: Communication on information from Daidalos to FG IPTV for information and action (transmitted also to all ITU-T Study Groups)
[Source: ITU-T Study Group 13 (Geneva, 17-28 July 2006)] Posted: 2006-08-10

FG IPTV-ID-0108: Action for FG IPTV: IPTV based on NGN Architecture (transmitted also to ITU-T SG 9 and SG 16 for action)
[Source: ITU-T Study Group 13 (Geneva, 17-28 July 2006)] Posted: 2006-08-10

FG IPTV Home

TSAG approved at its meeting (Geneva, 3-7 July 2006), the establishment of a Joint Coordination Activity on Network Aspects of Identification Systems (including RFID) (JCA-NID). Mr. Pierre-André Probst (OFCOM, Switzerland) was appointed as the Convenor of this activity.

JCA-NID is open to members and designated representatives of relevant Standards Development Organization and Forums.

The terms of reference of the JCA-NID are:

• To examine the proposed deliverables of the correspondence group on network aspects of identification systems (including RFID), in order to improve them and use them as baselines texts. Comments are invited on the deliverables from the membership and SGs
• To further develop and analyze the list of standardization items and associated roadmap
• To forward specific standardization issues to relevant SGs and other SDOs as appropriate
• To act as a single point of contact within ITU-T with other SDOs in order to avoid duplication of work
• To examine the best way to make available the most urgent deliverables on network aspects of identification systems (including RFID) (in particular, proposing the creation of focus group(s) for the most urgent topics with corresponding terms of reference).

The JCA-NID activities will report its progress to TSAG.

The first meeting of JCA-NID will be held on 19-21 September 2006.

JCA-NID Home

First meeting of Meeting of JCA-NID (Joint Coordination Activity on Network Aspects of identification including RFID)

Geneva, 19-21 September 2006

See TSB Circular 109 for more information

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