It has been some months since I last provided a Chairman's Update. The inevitable slowdown over the summer months appeared to affect NGNuk work groups disproportionately, though progress has picked up again since mid September.
In the last update I reported that I had written to all CEOs of the Executive members asking them to review their commitment and re-affirm where they could support the programme. Whilst I received confirmation of commitment to NGNuk as a body there was little practical change in the willingness or ability of Industry to provide resources to support or lead work streams. As a result we have tried to focus NGNuk on a few key areas of activity primarily in terms of establishing the underlying principles that might direct future industry activity.
Partly as a result of the above but also in recognition that a huge mount of excellent work is underway between BT and Industry through Consult 21 and the supporting activity of NICC, we have actively sought to ensure that NGNuk does not get embroiled in detailed implementation activity. To do so risks confusion and also the dilution of effort at a time when CP resources are already stretched.
Not withstanding the above comments I am pleased to report that tangible progress has been made and the following is a brief summary of the key areas:
The final paper outlining NGNuk member views on the suitability of the charging models for existing services has been published. This is located at http://www.ngnuk.org.uk/75.html . In summary the out put of the industry work group identified that there were no significant and tangible benefits to the consumer or industry in a change of charging models for existing services once they are provided over interconnected NGNs. It was also accepted that this may not be appropriate for new NGN services. Whilst maintaining the "status quo" may appear to have been the easy option, it was a decision based on significant discussion and "soul searching" by industry and a genuine desire to deliver what is best and right for the consumer. Work is now active on evaluating the different charging options in terms of capacity, usage etc with a view to agreeing this during November.
The NGNuk Interconnects Requirements have been published. These were passed to NICC for comment. Initial feedback indicates that there are some areas requiring further work by NGNuk.
I must admit to some disappointment that whilst both these documents were downloaded by non members we did not obtain non member feedback and critique. This would have been a valuable contribution in terms of providing a wider perspective on our work.
The BT consultation concluded on the numbers and location of interconnects. I believe that NGNuk involvement and its initial proposal helped achieve a result which industry is now able to accept without creating the disputes that were expected initially.
The areas where NGNuk will now focus will be to agree an industry wide approach and strategy for 1) Numbering and Addressing; 2) Security and Authentication; 3) Location and Presence and 4) Service Level Agreements.
Today we publish the minutes from the NGNuk Exec meeting in August.
So I am glad to report that NGNuk continues to make progress in a difficult support environment.
Peter McD. Black
Executive Chairman NGNuk