The ITU-T activities for Conformity Assessment and

Interoperability

Paolo Rosa Head, Workshops and Promotion Division Workshops and Promotion DivisionTelecommunication Telecommunication Standardization Standardization BureauBureau

Joint ITU/CTO event: “Bridging Standardization Gap, ITR

and Interoperability issues”13 September 2010, Colombo, Sri Lanka

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What happens everyday• Lack of performance and of compliance to

conformity and interoperability requirements

• Market invaded by counterfeit products

• Legacy, regulatory, contractual and legal issues

• Developing Countries linked to one vendor only– poor market competition– lack of technology neutrality

Some Problems

1) How many Bluetooth™ earpieces are you ready to buy before you find the good one for your mobile?

2) your service provider changes its equipment, are you happy to discover that your just bought “super-wireless-ADSL2+ modem-router” is not compatible?

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Effects of lack C&IImpact on ITU:– Erosion of the perceived importance of ITU as the place of

choice to develop the full range of interoperable standards.

Reactions from Developing Countries – a plea expressed for ITU to help and to assist in achieving

the requested level of conformity to standards and interoperability among vendors both nationally and internationally

ITU commitment– WTSA-08 Resolution 76: ITU-T not proposing to do

anything that is not already being done by other successful SDOs including those that are expressing opposition to Res.76 implementation

– WTDC-10 Resolution 47 : supporting and complementing the Res.76 from the development sector point of view

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The contents

1. WTSA-08 Res. 76, WTDC-10 Res. 47, Councils 09 and 10 highlights

2. Conformity3. Interoperability4. Assistance to Developing Countries5. Conclusions

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The WTSA-08 Res. 76 the WTDC-10 Res. 47

Council-09 and -10 decisions

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WTSA-08 Resolution 76Johannesburg, October 2008

“Studies related to conformance and interoperability testing, assistance to developing countries, and a possible future ITU mark programme”

Why the Res. 76

– Major concerns were raised at WTSA-08, especially in developing countries;• lack of conformance • poor quality• counterfeit equipment• lack of legal framework

– Need of developing countries to be assisted in deploying testing facilities and building capacity facilities in the regions

– Other standards bodies have already introduced a number of activities to address conformity and interoperability and are far ahead of ITU.

Res.76: instructs the Director of TSB

• identify and prioritize the problems of developing countries

• study the overall effect on ITU and manufacturers, legal, national and international regulatory implications, cost of set up and location of testing facilities, measures to build the necessary human resource capacities

• Conduct studies with the view to introduce thevoluntary use of ITU Mark permitting manufacturers and service providers to make a visible declaration of conformity to ITU-T standards of products and to study the relevant financial and legal implications for the ITU-T and ICT industries

• to submit the result of these studies to Council-09 for its consideration and required actions

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Conclusions on Res. 76

• Res. 76: meets the needs of Developing Countries for conformance and interoperability aspects

• Conformity is a first step to increase the probability of interoperability

between different equipment, manufacturers, vendors, service providers

• Identification of Labs able to carry out tests according to the ITU-T Recommendations requirements and training programs

• Voluntary based ITU conformity programme as a demonstration of conformance to ITU-T Recs and possible creation of an ITU-Mark: the “ITU inside” concept that now is dropped.

• The increased business opportunities and benefits to both suppliers and customers, positive industry response

RESOLUTION 47 (REV. HYDERABAD, 2010)

Enhancement of knowledge and effective application of ITU Recommendations in

developing countries, including conformance and interoperability testing of systems

manufactured on the basis of ITU Recommendations

WTDC-10 Resolution 47

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau to:

1 encourage the participation of developing countries in training courses and workshops organized by ITU-D on best practices in the application of ITU‑R and ITU‑T Recommendations;

2 assist developing countries in building their capacity, in collaboration with ITU-T, so as to be able to perform conformance testing of equipment and systems;

3 assist the Director of TSB, and in collaboration with the Director of BR, and as appropriate, with equipment and systems manufacturers, internationally and regionally recognized standards development organizations, in conducting conformance assessment and interoperability testing events, preferably in the developing countries, and encouraging developing countries to attend these events; and

WTDC-10 Resolution 47In collaboration with TSB

First Step:Issue a Questionnaire. Done at NGN & C&I workshop

issues Nairobi, 2-4 August 2010

Second Step:Define the framework of the Field study on the

economicfeasibility of and need for creating regional

laboratories in the regions and to report to Council on the results of this field study;

Third StepIdentify partners for conducting the Field Study andTraining Activities Region by Region.

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The TSB Programme

• Conformity assessment: – The first step to interop, – Testing: certification / SDOs-Forums recognized labs– Creation ITU conformity database

• ITU as facilitator for interop events to: – identify the interoperability problems– develop Interoperability test suites as needed

• Use of Current international procedures (ISO/IEC 17025, 17050, ISO Guidelines 65 - CASCO toolbox)

• Conduct feasibility studies in developing countries

• Develop a long-term business plan

ITU-CIP Programme Benefits

– Industry: increased business opportunities (time to market, reduced costs, widen market for Mutual

Recognition Agreements, no TBT issues)

–End users: increased QoS & interoperability legacy to existing infrastructure, savings

–Developing countries: capacity building opportunities, regional and sub-regional type testing laboratories, bridging standardization Gap and digital divide, promotion of a conformity testing culture)

TSB Director’s Recommendations

endorsed by the Council-09

• Implement conformance assessment and interoperability events programme, including the creation of a conformance database instead of an ITU mark

• Creation of human resources capacity building opportunities

• Assist establishment of test facilities in developing countries

• Report to next Council on the effective implementation of the above.

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Concerns

• The database presents both legal and associated financial liability risks for the ITU and the ICT industry

• A step-by-step approach should be taken in order to take into account the concerns of the membership as ITU moves forward in implementing the action lines adopted by Council 2009

• The use of accredited test labs is time consuming and expensive, delaying users’ access to technology and slowing global trade

• TSB should first prepare a business plan to establish the real costs, potential liabilities and measurable benefits to society before launching the ITU-T Conformity Database

• Test centres in developing countries, according to one contributor, would lead to confusion in the market place

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Support• Interoperability as Mission for ITU (Res. 71 – Strategic Plan)

• Res. 76 intended to assist DCs and manufacturers should contribute to its implementation

• Produced examples of problems

• The conformance database would be exceedingly useful for operators and end users for whom equipment are manufactured. Good experience in this field is proven by existing DBs from other SDOs

• Confidence of users in the kind of equipment they buy is more important than how quickly they appear on the market

• ITU-T Recommendations must be studied in view of conformance assessment and interoperability testing as relevant

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Regional “robust” Consultation Meetings 2010

• Quito, Ecuador, 6 July 2010

• Nairobi, Kenya, 30-31 July 2010

• BDT event - 2-4 August 2010 Nairobi, Kenya on NGN and creation of test labs in Africa

• Sydney, Australia,16-17 September 2010

• http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/worksem/wtsa-08/res76/index.html#events

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2

Conformity

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ITU Conformity Pilot Database

• Voluntary and free-of-charge tool permitting manufacturers and service providers to make a visible declaration that their equipment conform to ITU-T Recommendations.

• Information entered directly by vendors.

• Users advised that the DB contains only information provided by companies and that ITU is not in a position to verify the accuracy of the information received. Declaration of responsibility requested.

• The Pilot Database may provide information on applicable normative references by other standards organizations complying with Recommendation ITU-T A.5.

Imp

lem

en

tatio

n o

f the IT

U

Con

form

ity P

rog

ram

me

ITU-T Recs & test suites

Supplier’s conformity

routedecision

Test lab (Certification

Body / Rec.A.5 SDO/Forum lab)

accredited lab(ISO/IEC 17025)

ITU Conformity Database

Test results(ITU-T X.290)

1st partyEvaluation

Supplier’s ConformityDeclaration

(ISO/IEC 17050)

Test results(ITU-T X.290)

Route 2 AAccredited

(ISO/IEC Guide 65) Certification Body

Evaluation

ConformityCertificate issued by

CertificationBody

Con

form

ity A

ssessm

en

t / C

ertifi

catio

n IT

U C

&I

serv

ices

Supplier’s Request to ITU

Route 1

Route 2

Route 2 BProduct successfully

tested in a lab recognized by

any Rec. ITU-T A.5 SDO / Forum

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Supplier’s Declaration of Conformity – SDoC 1/2

Tests performed in a lab recognized by: (A.5 – SDO/Forum)

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The ITU Pilot Conformity Database:Example

Company ITU code

Prod. Name

Product category

ITU-T Recs/Ed.

SDOs stand.

s

Date SDoC

Vendor A C-12345 AH-1234 VDSL 2 G.992.2, G.995, GPON

IEEE, IETF, OIF

01.01.11 “.pdf”

Vendor B

Vendor C

Search facilities for any field

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A possible References data basefor conform products

Company Prod.

NameProduct category

Applications SDOs stand.s

Customers

Member A AH-1234 F.O. modem GPON, Access,multilambda

ITU,IEEE, IETF, OIF

A, B, C, E, F

Member B

Member C

Search facilities for any field

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Customers: looking for conformity as the main requirement to increase interoperability and confidence in vendors, to optimize investments and to benefit of improved quality of service

Conformity : necessary but not sufficient condition to increase the probability of interoperability and improve quality of service

Vendors : claiming for conformity to standards and interoperability as key elements able to create better business opportunities and to demonstrate the excellence of products with respect to the competitors in the marketplace

ITU Conformity Database showing products claimed as successfully tested for conformity is a “key tool” to:a)to help customers find best solutions for their needsb)to offer vendors a for-free additional opportunity to make business giving visibility to their conforming products

Transitive property for C&ITRUE

TRUE

TRUE

THEREFORE

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Interoperability

Ability of two or more systems or applications or network management products and services from different

suppliers to exchange information and to mutually / fruitfully make use of it

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TSB facilitator and co-organizer, calendar of interoperability events & partnership with relevant SDOs/forums/consortia

Possible hot topics:

IPTV G.9960 (Home Networking); HomeGrid Forum VDSL; Broadband Forum GPON (Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Network) G.hn (home grids / networks)

Interested Companies SDOs, Forums, Consortia to contact TSB (interop@itu.int).

TSB interoperability initiatives

www.itu.int/interop

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IPTV Interop event

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Next ITU Interop events

• Singapore – IPTV – September 2010

• Geneva – G.hn ??? – November 2010

• India – IPTV – December 2010

Interested Companies SDOs, Forums, Consortia to contact TSB (interop@itu.int).

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4

Assistance to Developing Countries:

Capacity Building and Test Centres

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Capacity building and test centers

• The ITU-T Secretariat (TSB) is implementing proposals on human capacity building in close collaboration with the ITU-D Secretariat (BDT) (WTDC Res. 47), needed to:

• The ITU-T will assist in the establishment of test facilities in developing countries and in cooperation with international institutions is planned (UNIDO, International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation - ILAC, International Accreditation Forum - IAF,…)

• Visits to various Labs are in progress in the regions

• A project to create a test center in Tanzania is in progress

The Global Conformity and Interoperability ITU Portal

• Information on the meaning of Conformity and Interoperability

• Search functions in databases from ITU and from other SDOs/ Forums on a reciprocal collaboration basis

• Links to C&I-related international organizations e.g. ILAC, IAF, NABs, Labs (Where are is the lab for my products?), SDOs

• Repository/link for global MRAs for C&I

• Information on ITU and other SDOs Interop events worldwide

• Contributions on best practices for certification, interop organization, MRAs

• Link to civil society and consumers associations

• ….?????

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Conclusions

5

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What we said• Resolutions 76(ITU-T) and 47(ITU-D) : the replies to the

needs of Developing Countries about conformity and interoperability

• Conformity one of the tools able to increase probability of interoperability

• Created the voluntary based and free pilot conformity database

• ITU-T interop events successfully started

• TSB and BDT committed to implement Res. 76 and Res. 47

• Capacity Building activities and creation of test centers started

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Useful links• ITU-T Conformity and Interoperability

www.itu.int/C&I

• ITU-T Conformity : www.itu.int/conformity

• ITU-T Interoperability : www.itu.int/interop

• ITU-T Workshops and Seminars www.itu.int/ITU-T/worksem/index.html

• ITU-T News www.itu.int/net/ITU-T/info/news.aspx

Thank you