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Broadband & Mobile Featured Article
May 15, 2008
Big Name Carriers Sighn Up for GMI 2008
By Tim Gray TMCnet Web Editor
The MultiService Forum (News - Alert) (MSF) today announced the full list of carrier, government, and academic laboratories that will host the latest Global MultiService Interoperability (GMI) 2008, a worldwide interoperability test event for next generation networks (NGNs).
Now, Verizon, NCS and UNH-IOL in the United States will work with BT (News - Alert)/Vodafone in Europe and China Mobile in Asia to create a “real world” global network to verify the interoperability of critical NGN
elements in a range of practical scenarios.
“As NGN technology matures, carriers are increasingly focused on the details of multi-vendor interoperability and GMI2008 will provide a unique opportunity for suppliers to demonstrate their ability to develop develop products that meet this challenge in real world networks,” said Roger Ward, Office of the CTO, BT Group (News - Alert) and President of the MSF.
Ward says he group is building on the success of GMI 2006, this year’s event includes additional test laboratories, enhanced test scenarios and a wider range of service capabilities including end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS), Location Management, IPTV (News - Alert), and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA).
”We are delighted to welcome onboard China Mobile and US Government’s National Communication System (NCS) for GMI2008,” said Ward.
At a time of accelerating change in the telecommunications industry, GMI 2008 is expected to demonstrate emerging NGN architectures that deliver converged services across a range of wireless and wireline access network technologies, from the traditional base-band to the emerging broadband technology such as WiMax. It will also provide key proof of concept for multi vendor interoperability across a managed end-to-end global network environment.
Six key scenarios, defined by the MSF Technical Committee, will be validated in the GMI 2008 event. Scenario one will focus on end-to-end session control across all supported access networks. Scenario two will test end-to-end QoS in both the access networks and across the core architecture. In scenario three, IPTV is added as a highly demanding IMS based application – the first such industry demonstration of its kind. Scenario 4 builds on Scenario 2 by adding location-based services and incorporates work done in TISPAN NASS and IETF to enable precise location information to be used with emergency calls, location based routing and prioritized call queuing.
“A comprehensive system for analyzing IPTV quality should take into account both video and audio quality and should have a close correlation to perceptual quality,” said Jack Douglass, director of Video Technology at Spiren. “It is essential that the system measure IP network impairments, content metrics and ETSI (News - Alert) TR101-290 parameters and include these attributes when calculating the video and audio MOS scores.”
Scenario 5 adds a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) service layer to demonstrate how a SIP/IMS-core would interoperate with Web based services. This SOA layer would enable rapid service creation by independent service developers utilizing service enablers provided by the core network including third-party call control, presence, and multimedia messaging. The sixth and final scenario focuses on the performance management of IPTV services and remote management of the IPTV CPE devices.
Tim Gray is a Web Editor for TMCnet, covering news in the IP communications, call center and customer relationship management industries. To see more of his articles, please visit Tim Gray’s columnist page.
Don't forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library.
Now, Verizon, NCS and UNH-IOL in the United States will work with BT (News - Alert)/Vodafone in Europe and China Mobile in Asia to create a “real world” global network to verify the interoperability of critical NGN
elements in a range of practical scenarios.“As NGN technology matures, carriers are increasingly focused on the details of multi-vendor interoperability and GMI2008 will provide a unique opportunity for suppliers to demonstrate their ability to develop develop products that meet this challenge in real world networks,” said Roger Ward, Office of the CTO, BT Group (News - Alert) and President of the MSF.
Ward says he group is building on the success of GMI 2006, this year’s event includes additional test laboratories, enhanced test scenarios and a wider range of service capabilities including end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS
), Location Management, IPTV (News - Alert), and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). ”We are delighted to welcome onboard China Mobile and US Government’s National Communication System (NCS) for GMI2008,” said Ward.
At a time of accelerating change in the telecommunications industry, GMI 2008 is expected to demonstrate emerging NGN architectures that deliver converged services across a range of wireless and wireline access network technologies, from the traditional base-band to the emerging broadband technology such as WiMax. It will also provide key proof of concept for multi vendor interoperability across a managed end-to-end global network environment.
Six key scenarios, defined by the MSF Technical Committee, will be validated in the GMI 2008 event. Scenario one will focus on end-to-end session control across all supported access networks. Scenario two will test end-to-end QoS in both the access networks and across the core architecture. In scenario three, IPTV is added as a highly demanding IMS
based application – the first such industry demonstration of its kind. Scenario 4 builds on Scenario 2 by adding location-based services and incorporates work done in TISPAN NASS and IETF to enable precise location information to be used with emergency calls, location based routing and prioritized call queuing. “A comprehensive system for analyzing IPTV
quality should take into account both video and audio quality and should have a close correlation to perceptual quality,” said Jack Douglass, director of Video Technology at Spiren. “It is essential that the system measure IP network impairments, content metrics and ETSI (News - Alert) TR101-290 parameters and include these attributes when calculating the video and audio MOS scores.”Scenario 5 adds a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) service layer to demonstrate how a SIP/IMS-core would interoperate with Web based services. This SOA layer would enable rapid service creation by independent service developers utilizing service enablers provided by the core network including third-party call control, presence, and multimedia messaging. The sixth and final scenario focuses on the performance management of IPTV services and remote management of the IPTV CPE devices.
Tim Gray is a Web Editor for TMCnet, covering news in the IP communications, call center and customer relationship management industries. To see more of his articles, please visit Tim Gray’s columnist page.
Don't forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library.
