ETSI to Hold Joint IPTV-IMS Test Event

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) announce Monday that it is organizing a joint interoperability testing event for IPTV and IMS core networks (note: IMS--which stands for IP Multimedia Subsystem--is a core element of next-generation fixed, mobile and broadcast communication networks). The organization, which plans to hold the event under its "Plugtests" brand in Lannion, France from October 16th-20th, says that the event's goal is to ensure complete interoperability of both equipment and services from different vendors and manufacturers. Two parallel, co-located testing "streams" will be arranged, ETSI says, providing separate interoperability testing environments for the two technologies: in both the IMS and IPTV Plugtests streams, test sessions will be scheduled between pairs of participating companies, and the overall results of all sessions will be published in a final report. Ad-hoc testing will also be allowed, though its results will not be included in the report; and network operators are invited to attend both streams of the event as observers.

The IMS Plugtests interoperability test event is the third that ETSI has organized for that technology to date (the previous events took place in 2007 and 2008). It is open to participation by vendors of complete IMS core networks, network components, IMS user equipment and application servers. Participants will evaluate IMS network interoperability, focusing on all aspects of the core IMS standard TS 24.229, ETSI says, including interworking, roaming, topology hiding, and support of presence and Multimedia Telephony (MMTel) applications services. Testing will be based on test descriptions that form part of ETSI Technical Specification TS 186 011-2 v2.2.1.

The IPTV Plugtests event, meanwhile, is the first that ETSI has organized for IPTV. Participation is open to vendors of "IMS-aware" user equipment (e.g. set-top boxes and integrated digital TV sets), IPTV application servers, video media servers, Resource Admission Control Subsystem (RACS) gateways and core IMS products, as well as products that integrate two or more of these functions. According to ETSI, testing activities will focus on evaluating the interoperability of IMS-based IPTV equipment in accordance with the procedures defined in ETSI IPTV standard TS 102 027: these include start-up, broadcast, trick-play, content-on-demand, and PVR. The interoperability test descriptions that will be the basis of the tests at the event are defined in ETSI TS 186 020, ETSI says.

ETSI says that it decided to hold a joint IPTV-IMS event because, while IPTV can be delivered over various communication mechanisms, "the use of IMS is particularly attractive." IMS-based IPTV solutions allow blending of TV services with other telecommunications services, such as voice, presence and data services, and network services providers can take full advantage of the IMS architecture while providing key end-user services, the organization says. "The two previous IMS Plugtests events showed a very high degree of interoperability," Giulio Maggiore, chairman of the ETSI Technical Committee for IMS Network Testing, said in a prepared statement. "This raises high expectations for this third event, as it will deal with the full 3GPP Release 7 version of IMS. The added focus on IPTV over IMS will give greater emphasis on IMS Network-to-Network Interface interoperability for services, since it will address IMS commercial deployments." Added Anthony Wiles, director of ETSI's Centre for Testing and Interoperability: "IMS plays a key role in ETSI's approach to IPTV through its TISPAN [stands for Telecommunication and Internet converged Services and Protocols for Advance Networking] Technical Committee. Ensuring robust, interoperable standards and solutions is vital if this technology is to be accepted by service providers and users alike. This event presents a major opportunity to achieve that goal. I therefore encourage all interested companies to make use of this opportunity and to participate in the event." The event's technical partners will include Orange and the MultiService Forum, and the event is sponsored by the European Commission, the Ville de Lannion and the Lannion-Tregor Agglomeration.