Paolo Rosa Head, Workshops and Promotion Division Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

1. WTSA-08 Resolution 76: the ITU-T approach to Conformity Assessment and Interoperability for developing countries Regional ITU Consultation on Conformance Assessment and Interoperability (Nairobi, Kenya, 30-31 July 2010) Paolo Rosa Head, Workshops and Promotion Division Telecommunication Standardization Bureau C&I, Nairobi 30-31 July, 2010

2. 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

3. Effects Impact on ITU: • Erosion of the perceived importance of ITU as the place of choice to develop the full range of interoperable standards. Reaction from Developing Countries members: • 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 commitments: • 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

4. Thecontents WTSA-08 Res. 76, WTDC-10 Res. 47, Councils 09 and 10 highlights Conformity Interoperability Assistance to Developing Countries Conclusions

5. The WTSA-08 Res. 76 the WTDC-10 Res. 47Council-09 and -10 decisions 1

6. WTSA-08 Resolution 76Johannesburg, October 2008 “Studies related to conformance and interoperability testing, assistance to developing countries, and a possible future ITU mark programme”

7. Conclusions on Res. 76 • Res. 76: meet the needs of Developing Countries for conformance and interoperability • Conformity as 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

8. TSB studies conducted with… Experts and External Organizations IEC, ISO, Regulators, Laboratories, Training institutions Governments UNIDO, WTO Accreditation bodies (ILAC, IAF, BIPM) Private sector, members and non-members of ITU

9. The TSB Programme • Conformity assessment: • first step to interop, • certification • conformity database • ITU as facilitator for interop events to: • identify the interoperability problems • develop Interoperability test suites as needed • Current international procedures (ISO/IEC - CASCO toolbox) adoption • Conduct feasibility studies in developing countries to: • implement good conformity assessment practices • improve interoperability • build capacity • establish test centres • Development of a business plan

10. 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.

11. Cons from Members • 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

12. Pros from Members • Interoperability as Mission for ITU (Res. 71 – Strategic Plan) • Res. 76 intended to assist DCs and manufacturers should contribute to its implementation • Examples of problems associated with interoperability and conformance of equipments and systems. Documentation submitted to TSB so far • 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 • Some of them already ensure interoperability of products provided by different manufacturers. For these Recommendations conformance and interoperability testing are complementary considering that conformance is the first step to enable interoperability.

13. Where are the problems? B

14. Problems • Yesterday: limited negative effects thanks to preliminary and mandatory type approval / homologation tests • Today: Concerns from end users, improvement of standards C&I testing are needed • Tomorrow: Common actions required: end users, vendors, SDOs, regulators, int’l and reg’l organizations • Lack: Effects on image, service, business, budget

15. Next steps:Regional Consultation Meetings 2010 BDT event - 2-4 August 2010 Nairobi, Kenya on NGN and creation of test labs in Africa Asia Pacific – 16-17 September – (Sydney, Australia) http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/worksem/wtsa-08/res76/index.html#events

16. WTDC-10 Resolution 47(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”

17. WTDC-10 Res.47 – “resolves” linked to Res. 76 • to assist developing countries in capacity building / training in collaboration with ITU-T • to assist TSB in conducting conformance assessment and interoperability testing events, preferably in the developing countries • to collaborate with the Director of TSB to implement the actions endorsed by the ITU Council in 2009 on Resolution 76

18. 2 Conformity Abilityof a product to meet the requirement(s) of a standard A first step to increase the probability of interoperability

19. The ITU C&I Programme:Testing Voluntary basis &free programme open to ITU members. Non-members may participate on a case by case basis waiting for public availability Testing 1st , 2nd, 3rd party accredited labs conformity assessment 3rd party accredited certifiers (any lab) Supplier’s Declaration of Conformity (SDoC) (ISO/IEC 17050)

20. ITU-T Recs & test suites Route 2 Conformity Assessment / Certification 1st 2nd or 3rd party accredited lab (ISO/IEC 17025) Test lab (certification body responsibility) Route 1 Supplier’s conformity route decision Test results (ITU-T X.290) Test results (ITU-T X.290) Accredited (ISO/IEC Guide 65) Certification body Evaluation 1st party Evaluation Conformity Certificate issued by Certification Body Supplier’s Conformity Declaration (ISO/IEC 17050) ITU CIP services Supplier’s Request to ITU ITU Conformity Database Implementation of the ITU Conformity Programme

21. 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.

22. Supplier’s Declaration of Conformity – SDoC 1/2

23. Supplier’s Declaration of Conformity – SDoC- 2/2

25. The ITU Pilot Conformity Database:Example Search facilities for any field

26. A possible Reference data basefor conform products Search facilities for any field

27. Transitive property for C&I TRUE Conformity : necessary but not sufficient condition to increase the probability of interoperability and improve quality of service 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 TRUE TRUE 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 THEREFORE • ITU Conformity Database showing products claimed as successfully tested for conformity is a “key tool” to: • to help customers find best solutions for their needs • to offer vendors a for-free additional opportunity to make business giving visibility to their conforming products

28. Existing DBs from other SDOs • IEEE – ICAP Product Conformance Registry www.ieee-isto.org/icap-program/products • Open Mobile Alliance – Products Listingwww.openmobilealliance.org/Application/ProductListing/products • FCC part 68 - www.fcc.gov/wcb/iatd/part68faqs.pdf “The rules also provide for the development and maintenance of a publicly accessible database of approved TE and for labeling TE that have been shown to comply with the technical criteria. All approved TE are required to be listed in the database and to be properly labeled”. The Administrative Council for Terminal Attachments (ACTA), joint sponsorship of the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), mandate “for maintaining a publicly accessible database of all approved TE” • WiMAX Forum Spectrum and Regulatory Database: www.wimaxforum.org/resources/wimax-forum-spectrum-and-regulatory-database • http://www.wimaxforum.org/certification/certified-product-showcase • Wi-Fi certified products database: www.wifi.org/certified_products.php • Global Certification Forum (GCF) (mobile phones and wireless devices based on 3GPP standards) GCF's guiding maxim is "test once, use anywhere." http://www.globalcertificationforum.org/WebSite/public/home_public.aspx

29. The FCC Conformity DatabaseFCC – 00 – 171NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULEMAKING Adopted: May 15, 2000 Released: May 22, 2000 Item 68 : Declaration of Conformity. (omissis)……DoC is a procedure under which the party responsible for the equipment's compliance with specific technical parameters, the manufacturer, importer, or assembler, causes measurements to be made of equipment performance with regard to those parameters. The party performing such measurements must be accredited for doing so by an authorized accreditation body based on the International Organization for Standardization and International Electrotechnical Commission ("ISO/IEC") Guide 25. (omissis) Item 76 Database of Approved or Certified Equipment Currently, the Commission maintains a data base of terminal equipment registered pursuant to Part 68. Consistent with our proposal in this Notice to privatize many of the Commission’s current Part 68 functions, we propose that a private entity be responsible for sponsoring and maintaining a similar database. We propose that entities obtaining equipment approval from TCBs and entities using either DoC or verification be required to submit pertinent information regarding their identity and approved equipment to a database administrator. (omissis) A nationwide data base ameliorates concerns regarding the potentially adverse impact of non-compliant CPE on the PSTN. (omissis)

30. The FCC-Administrative Council for Terminal AttachmentACTA (TIA-ATIS) DatabaseRef. FCC 00-400 of 21 December 2000 (item 108) the database “will permit interested parties such as the Commission, providers of telecommunications, and consumers to track and identify suppliers or importers of non-compliant equipment. As such, the database should ameliorate concerns regarding the potentially adverse impact of non-compliant terminal equipment on the PSTN by ensuring that suppliers are held accountable for any damage their equipment may cause to the PSTN” Registration Numbering and Labeling (Item 81) As stated previously, when the Commission determines that a piece of terminal equipment meets the technical requirements for that equipment, the Commission assigns a unique registration number to that piece of equipment. We tentatively conclude that although the Commission will no longer be responsible for CPE registration, some form of unique identifying label must be applied to all terminal equipment. This identifying label is necessary to adequately identify CPE as an approved piece of terminal equipment that customers are entitled to connect to the PSTN (omissis)

31. Is ITU C&I DB creating confusion on the marketplace? The GCF – Certific. explained • GCF Certification delivers extra confidence throughout the mobile value chain by demonstrating that a mobile phone or wireless device:is compliant with requirements agreed by GCF, which in turn reference core and test specifications published by recognised standards organisations and other industry forums • will interoperate correctly when used on a variety of digital mobile networks • Manufacturers who certify their mobile devices to GCF rules and procedures are assured that: • their products will benefit from a high degree of interoperability • time-to-market for new products is reduced using this respected 'one-stop' verification process • expensive and time-consuming duplication of testing effort can be avoided • With GCF's 'tested once, use anywhere' maxim, manufacturers can significantly reduce the requirement for operator acceptance testing if presenting GCF certified devices.

32. Just an example from WiMax Forum…

33. Or better two examples…the GCF DB

34. The step-by-step approach • How long will each step be [time] and how many steps are foreseen? • Are the industry, the operating companies, regulators and end-users willing to wait for the results of the proposed multi-year step-by-step approach before deciding how to make investments and how to deploy new risk-free technologies? • To gain time we can benefit of the step-by-step approaches followed by others SDOs, Especially those that found reasonable and frutful the creation of a conformity database. • A step-by-step approach that benefits of the experience of others SDOs should be developed in parallel to the implementation of the Res. 76, 46 and to the action lines endorsed by Council-09. Considering the activities of other SDOs well consolidated, the “ITU parallel step-by-step” approach will allow: • To satisfy needs of vendors and customers • To fine-tuning the activities of ITU on res. 76 and 47 • To give advice to ITU Study Groups to consider for new studies for test suites as needed • A better coordination with other SDOs in the field of C&I

35. The TSB step-by-step approach

36. The Global Conformity and Interoperability Portal Links to Conformity Databases from all the SDOs on a reciprocal basis Links to ICT testing labs and organizations worldwide Repository of global MRAs for C&I Information on ITU and other SDOs Interop events Contributions on best practices

37. 3 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

38. TSB interoperability initiativeswww.itu.int/interop • 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).

39. IPTV Interop event

40. 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).

41. 4 Assistance to Developing Countries: Capacity Building and Test Centres

42. 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: assign more resources hold workshops and tutorials on conformity assessment and interoperability on the BDT project on International Telecommunication Testing Center. 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

43. ILACIAF International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation APLAC PAC EA IAAC SADCA APLAC Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation EA European cooperation for Accreditation IAAC Inter-American Accreditation Cooperation SADCA Southern African Development Cooperation for Accreditation International Accreditation Forum Source ILAC

44. Conclusions 5

45. What we said Resolutions 76(ITU-T) and 47(ITU-D) : the reply to the needs of Developing Countries about conformity and interoperability Conformityableto increaseprobabilityof interoperability Created the voluntarybased and free pilot conformity database to be populated since now ITU-T interop events started TSB committed to the implementation of the Res. 76 requirements Capacity Building activities and creation of test centers started in cooperation with the BDT

46. 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

47. Addressing interoperability is one of the very reasons for founding ITU and for which Experts in ITU-T Study Groups are engaged in developing Recommendations and test suites. There is no point in developing test suites if ITU does not give some recognition to manufactures having their equipment tested to ITU-T Recommendations TSB is committed to consulting and collaborating with all the ITU-T membership to ensure the successful implementation of Resolution 76 as endorsed by the ITU Council “It is a long and winding road but there is no turn back”