Question 6/5

Motivation

With the convergence of IT and communication equipment, unbundling and co-location is occurring in telecommunication networks and ICT installations. In co-located telecommunication networks and ICT installations, minimum requirements for EMC, Resistibility and Safety are necessary to ensure safe and problem-free operation. The unbundling of the access network increases the number of operators that may provide services within a common access network cable. In this context, unbalance and crosstalk are not only related to the transmission performance of the services, but also strongly related to EMC performance of the services. Also, because of the desire to reuse existing access networks new technical approaches generally involving spread spectrum techniques are being developed and implemented. Therefore, those characteristics become increasingly important.

This area needs some technical study so that the ICT industry has the ability to ensure that requirements for EMC can be met in an appropriate way and that technical solutions assure network integrity and interoperability, easy use of equipment and access security.

The following Recommendations, in force at the time of approval of this Question, fall under its responsibility:

• K.10, K.58, K.59, K.60 and L.62.

Question

Unbalance is an essential factor to be studied in this question. Methodologies for measuring cable characteristics, such as unbalance, Near End Crosstalk (NEXT), or Far End Crosstalk (FEXT), are one of the issues to be clarified, in order to ensure the performance of the cable under the unbundling and broadband transmission.

This question will also review the existing Recommendations on liberalization and broadband transmission to ensure that they remain accurate and appropriate to the ICT industry and environment.

Study items to be considered include, but are not limited to:

• Measurement methods for the characteristics of telecommunication lines or telecommunication ports; especially the frequency range of broadband services;
• Measurement and prediction methods for emissions from broadband signals transmitting in a cable, in particular where plural systems exist in a cable;
• Methods for the evaluation of the electromagnetic environment and for the elimination of problems occurring due to the liberalization of ICT installations;
• EMC requirements and mitigation methodologies for next generation access systems in existing or next generation telecommunication network systems;
• Methodology for determining responsibility for EMC problems due to the liberalization of ICT installations;
• Guidance to ensure the performance of the cable under unbundling conditions, including the technical and practical solutions that guarantee, for the main topologies in use worldwide, the integrity, reliability, interoperability, ease of implementation, physical and fire security and other related aspects;
• Methods to ensure that more than one operator can provide multiple-services such as voice, ISDN, xDSL etc. in the same network element and spaces without causing service degradation.

Tasks

To ensure safe and problem-free operation of broadband systems in unbundled and co-located environments. As unbundling is occurring at a fast rate, this question must identify market needs and provide solutions in an appropriate time frame. Tasks include, but are not limited to:

• A new or revised Recommendation on the EMC requirements and the measurement methods for determining the characteristics of telecommunication cables and telecommunication ports of equipment in the frequency range of broadband services, and the protection or improvement method against effects of these characteristics;
• A new or revised Recommendation containing the minimum requirements for EMC, Resistibility and Safety for new co-located ICT installations. This converged IT and communication equipment in ICT installations, such as the data centres, provides both traditional hosting and cloud services;
• Motivating ITU members to share their national experience and spread the collected knowledge related to practical aspects of broadband access network, unbundling and co-location by means of active participation in events, workshops, publications, press releases, etc.
• Maintenance and enhancement of Recommendations K.10, K.58, K.59, K.60 and L.62.

An up-to-date status of work under this Question is contained in the SG 5 work programme (use URL as shown in the table below).

Relationships

Recommendations:

• G.117, L.75, L.19 and other K-series

Questions:

• 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 11 and 12/5

Study Groups:

• ITU-T SG 12 and 15
• ITU-R SG 1 and 5

Standardization bodies:

• ETSI, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC25, IEC TC46/TC86, CISPR.