MSF Launches NGN Certification Program

The much awaited MSF (MultiService Forum) Certification Program
was given final approval by the MSF Board at the MSF quarterly meeting
in Amsterdam last week. In looking to deliver such an ambitious
program to the industry, the MSF selected Iometrix as the host test
lab, with an initial pilot program set to deliver results as early as
Q4 2007.

The MSF Certification Program will focus on areas of critical
interest to both vendor and service provider members of the MSF,
addressing key issues necessary to deliver multi-vendor practical open
architecture solutions for Next Generation Networks (NGNs), The pilot
program, scheduled for Q4 this year, will concentrate on verifying the
technical components of RTCP implementations in media gateways and SIP
end points, and the accuracy of the network statistics that they
report. The RTP/RTCP protocol addresses the measurement and reporting
of network quality for real-time applications such as VoIP, and any
differences in implementation or faulty reporting between the very
large number and types of nodes running these protocols would
seriously degrade the network operation and damage application
performance.

Roger Ward, Office of the CTO, BT Group and President of the MSF,
commented on the program's strategy: "Getting the variability out of
RTCP implementations was the favourite starting point with our members
for this programme, and working the detail of the pilot with a major
test house such as Iometrix will establish the critical processes and
procedures necessary to deliver a major ongoing MSF Certification
Program to the industry. Subsequent stages, starting early next year,
will address detailed aspects of SIP interconnect between two or more
providers- and will follow naturally from this pilot phase."

The NGN network components subject to certification in the pilot
phase include SIP endpoints and SIP phones, residential gateways
(CPE), access gateways, trunking gateways, media servers and session
border gateways. The test scenarios include point-to-point calls -
initiating calls between software under test and emulated endpoint and
verifying that basic RTCP jitter, delay, packet loss, packet
duplication and short calls are reported correctly by the end systems
- as well as complex calls, verifying that a mixer maintains the
correct RTCP statistics for each RTP sessions it supports. Also, when
a destination endpoint is changed, verifying that the end-point clears
the statistics for the old media path and reports the statistics
accurately for the new media path.

"Real time protocol - RTP - and control protocol is a great
starting point" according to Naseem Khan, Principal Member of
Technical Staff at Verizon Labs. "Real time applications like VoIP and
IPTV, cannot be built on a weak foundation. MSF certification provides
the glue to hold the whole NGN infrastructure together."

Chris Gallon, Head of Systems Engineering at Fujitsu
Telecommunications Europe, added: "To be able to launch an NGN
certification program within 12 months of the completion of GMI 2006
is more than we had hoped for. It is a testament to the progress that
the industry has made and the drive of the (MSF) Forum. By providing a
globally recognized and trusted

certification program for Next Generation Network elements the MSF
will help smooth the way for NGN deployments."

Bob Mandeville, President and Founder, Iometrix, stressed the
urgency of this certification program: "It's sheer arithmetic:
traditional telephony was built around barely a half dozen basic
systems, whereas with VoIP, for example, we have literally hundreds of
systems and suppliers. So there's a significant risk of
non-conformance within any service provider network - let alone the
problems of calls spanning multiple networks. The opportunity to use
certified equipment is a major step towards seamless NGN coverage."

Registration for the initial pilot testing program opens
immediately, and vendors are invited to contact Iometrix at
msf-certification@iometrix.com by August 31st 2007. For further
information visit the Iometrix website at: http://www.iometrix.com/

About the MSF

The MultiService Forum (MSF) is a global association of service
providers and system suppliers committed to developing and promoting
open-architecture, multiservice switching systems. Founded in 1998,
the MSF is an open-membership organization comprised of the world's
leading telecommunications companies. The MSF's activities include
developing Implementation Agreements, promoting worldwide
compatibility and interoperability, and encouraging input to
appropriate national and international standards bodies. For more
information about the MSF and its members, visit the MSF web site at
http://www.msforum.org/

Editors Note

Please click on the URL link below to view the MSF discussing this
major industry announcement and to access other presentation
materials.

URL: http://www.netevents.tv/docuplayer.asp?docid=111