• Attendees
• Agenda
• Straw-man Interconnect Framework
• Update on Interconnect Numbers and Locations
• Charging Principles
• Charging Framework
• Interconnect Services Requirements
• Programme Scope – Status of CP Work-streams
• Programme Board
• NICC
• AOB
• Next Meeting
• Outstanding Action List
• New Actions

Peter Black (NGNuk)

Peter Ryde (NGNuk)

Mark Dalziel (NGNuk)

Steve Unger (Ofcom)

Andy May (CW)

Neil McArthur (CPW)

Phil Male (Thus)

Peter Agnew (Colt)

Davide Strusani (T-Mobile)

Marcus Webb (Vodafone)

Angus Flett (BTW)

Ben Phillips (Sky/Easynet)

• Review of Contents for Straw man framework
• Update on Interconnect Numbers and Location
• Charging Principles and Framework Update
• Update on Interconnect Requirements
• Overall Programme Scope
• AOB

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The Secretariat was requested to create a straw-man structure that replicates the final interconnect framework, to populate this and identify what has been agreed and the issues outstanding.

The Secretariat outlined their approach at the last Exec. This assumes that many areas of work will be undertaken outside of NGNuk (e.g. MSA with BTW via Consult 21). The draft framework will identify the areas of work requiring NGNuk involvement, input or ownership and the status. Where NGNuk involvement is not required the “lead“ will be identified

The work would be presented back to the Exec in August. Leo Todd has been engaged to help support this work over the holiday period.

This work has also been outlined to the NICC TSG and Ofcom NGN steering group.

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No further NGNuk work is anticipated.

We await the output of the Consult 21 consultation which should be communicated in the next two weeks. Communications to show the detail of which sites are firm and not going to be changed. BTW will take up issues on a bilateral basis with CPs where issues persist.  Ofcom are also awaiting the closure statement to analyse the impact on foreclosure.

The final version of the Charging Principles paper has been published under NGNuk branding on the NGNuk website.

No comments or questions have been received to date.

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The feedback in the member input was reviewed with the Commercial Group on the 5^th July. A variety of review dates had been proposed however we were still unable to obtain the attendance of all key contributors.

At the meeting it was agreed to focus on two areas of work:

• There was disagreement over whether Call Control and Session Management would become a sufficient driver of cost to require to be treated separately within the charging framework. A set of questions have been distributed amongst commercial group members to try to evaluate this area in more detail. This will be collated and reviewed in mid August.
• A variety of inputs had been provided both in terms of views and quality. It was agreed that the Secretariat would complete templates that had been developed during the initial review with the input received. These would be circulated for Members to consider and amend the detail to better reflect their views. The Commercial group would review this feedback during mid August.

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Version 2.1 of the Interconnect Requirements has been published on the public area of the NGNuk web site and comments invited.

Any comments received will be reviewed , however, it is unlikely that a further update of the Interconnect Requirements will be undertaken until the year end.

Security Workshop

Following the initial Security/Authentication workshop the output of this work shop was presented to the NGNuk Exec and was rejected. The Exec believed that security and authentication should aim to enhance the user experience and create value from interconnecting NGNs. The Executive did not believe this had been achieved.

The work shop is therefore being re-run on 31^st July (10.00 until 14.00 in Riverside House. Contact is Leo Todd or Mark Dalziel). The purpose is defined below and is the draft Project Initiation Document that will be discussed.

 

Project Purpose

The purpose of the NGNuk authentication work-stream is to:

1. Identify the requirements for identity management and security which will meet the needs of future services and products and leverage the advantages of the NGN interconnect

2. To develop specific proposals for multiple confidence levels for identity information exchanged across NGN interconnects

3. To develop a replacement for the current CLI code of practice which is fit for the NGN era.

The Executive were asked that they encourage attendance at the work shop and that attendees were requested to apply themselves to solving the brief agreed by the Exec.

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Active

1. Service Specification for Real Time Voice ( no owner agreed but CW completing PID,) – Will have no impact on Green Release. Review required with John Lonergan ( CW)
2. Service Specification for Data (Alireza Mahmoodshahi, Colt) – Requirements being updated to reflect output of MPLS/VPN work shop.
3. Definition of Terms ( Secretariat) – On hold awaiting 2nd draft of Interconnect Requirements. As this has now been published the Secretariat needs to review approach.
4. Numbering and Addressing ( Justin Fielder, Sky/Easynet ) – Requires review with NICC lead to ensure approaches are consistent.
5. Presence and Location (Angus Flett, BT) – Still no lead identified but will have an influence on future NICC work.
6. Security and Authentication – (Phil Male, Thus) – Awaiting re-run of work shop on 31^st July.

AP1 - 26/07/2007 Ben Phillips to pick up the issue with Nigel Titley and liaise with Paul Rothsbotham.

AP2 – 26/07/2007 Angus Flett to provide a named contact – Ryan Hardy.

On hold

 

1. MPLS/VPN Scope ( Phil Male, Thus) –  The IPVPN requirements are to be incorporated within the Data Requirements. Whilst at the workshop there was no support of MPLS or other technologies to support facilities (infrastructure) based competition there was support from both Virgin and Thus at the Executive. It was agreed that Thus/Virgin would identify whether they could obtain further support from members. If available they would continue to sponsor this as a work stream.
2. Cost Modeling ( Andy May, C&W) – Draft submitted however it was agreed at the May Exec that this was not required. Following the last Exec this was to be reviewed by Peter Black and Andy May.
3. Service Specification for Real Time (Other) (BTW) – On Hold due to lack of clear requirements
4. Service Specification Near Real Time and Streaming (BTW) – On Hold due to lack of clear requirements

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A Programme Board has not been held since the last Exec as there has not been sufficient activity to warrant this.

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Peter Ryde and Mark Dalziel met with NICC TSG on 16^th July. This was well attended by NICC TSG representative. This provided an overview to TSG of all areas of NGNuk activity and where support or interaction was anticipated. The key points from the meetings are as follows:<//font><//font>

• When available, NICC would review the Requirements document and provide feedback on the content with respect to:<//font>
  • Inaccuracies<//font>
  • Areas where too little guidance is provided from NGNuk to NICC<//font>
  • Omissions <//font>

NICC stressed that the scope of Green Release was now fixed, so any requirements from NGNuk not accommodated within it would be factored into subsequent Release deliverables.

NGNuk were aware that the BAU focus of commercial/product personnel providing input to the requirements created an issue due to their knowledge of potential future requirements. NGNuk requested that NICC should be proactive in identifying specific areas or questions which they felt NGNuk needed to answer.

NICC have implicitly accepted IMS/TISPAN as the way forward. These have a growing maturity. In the majority of instances the approach will be to adopt these international standards and discourage any UK “specials”.

NICC expressed interest that the lead of the Numbering and Addressing work stream is by SKY/Easynet as they had not actively participated within this area at NICC. It was agreed as sensible that the two “leads” should agree what the NGNuk work stream will output in order to avoid duplication of any activities already completed within NICC. NICC were seeking guidance on how the governance and administration of the central database proposed by Ofcom would be managed commercially and it was felt to be an area NGNuk could provide assistance.

NICC did not believe NGNuk need to provide any further input in support of the Green Release. This work will not be affected by the Service Specification work for Real Time Voice. It was accepted that inter-CP activity is unlikely to gather pace until nearer to CPs implementing interconnects between each other.

Whilst the Work Stream on data was welcomed, the output would likely feed through into the development of the Orange release post Dec 2007.

The status of the Security and Authentication work stream was discussed and specifically the need to re-plan this to meet the direction of the NGNuk Exec that this must provide for improved customer experience and added value from CPs over what was available via the Internet. It was noted that the output in this area would have significant impact for NICC work.

It was agreed that the NGNuk PID format which follows Prince2 methodology would be used as the approach for handover. To test this a PID was submitted relating to QoS classes by NGNuk to NICC

There was a discussion on the need for input for the Orange release, scoping work for which would commence later in the year. It was suggested that the approach NICC might need to implement was to articulate the implications of the technology choices as the first stage and then seek commercial/product views on these. This would be discussed within TSG

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PWC NGN Model

PWC have developed a model for understanding NGN costs and network dimensioning. They have asked that they be given the opportunity to present to the NGNuk Exec.

AP3 – 26/07/07 – Peter Ryde to confirm with PWC that their presentation can be circulated to the Exec and be asked to present to the Exec at a later date.

NICC Position on Performance Monitoring

Following the TSG meeting on 19 July,  NICC TSG have provided the following statement to NGNuk on Performance Monitoring for NGNs.

This is provided for information rather than endorsement.

NICC/TSG has been studying the technical standards issues relating to monitoring QoS performance on calls between NGNs. Monitoring is required to determine compliance to desired QoS level, fault detection and fault demarcation (ie determining in which CP’s or customer’s domain the fault resides).

This is a complex subject and Annex 1 provides more information. However, there are commercial implications and hence NICC/TSG wishes to inform NGNuk on the direction being taken by NICC/TSG. If NGNuk disagree with this proposed direction, they are requested to inform NICC as soon as possible.

NICC Position on NGN QoS Performance Monitoring:

• NICC/TSG will include in the NGN Interconnect Green Release specifications the requirement that:
• NGNs undertake performance monitoring and communicate the results to interconnected NGNs involved in the call.
• RTCP HR[1] is adopted for monitoring and fault detection on NGN interconnect links. This is necessary to ensure acceptable media path QoS for NGN services, although the standards will not complete until end 2007. This should still be in time for incorporation into the Green release.
• All calls are monitored rather than a sample of calls (ie 1 in N). The standards do not allow synchronisation across NGNs of which calls to monitor and hence unless all calls are monitored, CPs will monitor different call samples making fault detection and demarcation very difficult. It would also prevent any correlation with customer complaints. Monitoring all calls does not necessitate storage of performance measures for all calls; only the data for those calls with a QoS performance below a given threshold would need to be retained.

AP4 – 26/07/2007 – NGNuk to request from NICC information on the impact of their recommendation

[1] RTCP HR is a protocol being developed by IETF which will allow automation of fault detection, and localisation of transport faults between MSIL (Multi Service Interconnect Link) interconnects and operators’ core networks.

 

The next meeting will be 10.00 to 14.00 on 30^th August 2007 at Riverside House.

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Action 8 – 22/02/2007 – Confirm the status of the Terms of Reference covering interaction of NGNuk with NICC within NICC. Review meeting undertaken with NICC and PID used within NGNuk agreed as basis for handover of work between organisations. Draft PID for QoS submitted to Paul Rosbotham for comment.	Peter Ryde Completed
Action 9 – 29/03/2007 – Scope request regarding the validation of 4 QoS classes and pass to NICC As above	Peter Ryde Completed
Action 14 – 29/03/2007 -  Develop guidance notes for work stream leaders regarding the use of non members within a work stream. The Exec requested that the guidance notes ensure that work stream leaders are aware that they should not favour non members in such a way that it might distort competition.	Peter Ryde Ongoing
Action 3 – 26/04/2007 – Secretariat to arrange that Openreach attend to provide detail of where the Openreach products will interconnect. Openreach have agreed to present at the July Exec meeting. This will be deferred given the July meeting is an audio call until September.	Secretariat Ongoing
Action 4 – 31/05/2007 – Secretariat to meet with those members who have expressed concerns regarding the effectiveness of the requirements process to Leo Todd to gain a better understanding and decide what action might be appropriate.	Secretariat Closed
Action 5 – 31/05/2007 – Secretariat should create a strawman structure that replicates the final interconnect framework, then to populate this document to identify clearly what has been agreed and  the key issues outstanding. Initial views presented Exec. Next review anticipated at August Exec	Secretariat Ongoing
Action 1 - 28/06/2007  - Gideon Senensieb to provide NGNuk with a structured set of questions reflecting the specific feedback Ofcom is seeking from CPs to help ensure that the assumptions adopted are as robust and accurate as possible.	Ofcom Ongoing
Action 2 – 28/06/2007 – Andy May and Peter Black to reconsider case for NGNuk modelling work and circulate a proposal to the NGNuk Exec. This was reviewed, It was agreed that it was too late to reconsider this however it was agreed that some smaller “tactical” pieces of modelling work may be required.	Andy May Peter Black Completed
Action 3 – 28/06/2007 – Peter Ryde/Leo Todd/Thus to develop a customer experience “straw man” and to re-run the Security /Authentication work shop. Output should be a better developed view of the preferred customer experience and an approach to Security/Authentication that supports this. Document distributed and work shop scheduled for 31st July at Riverside house	Peter Ryde Completed