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Managing Conformance and Interoperability for Mobile and IoT productsChris Hogg (GCF Programme Manager)ITU-D Workshop, 16 October 2019Geneva, Switzerland

©GCF 2019

• 19 years mobile and telecoms industry experience.

• Programme and Strategic Management of GCF.– Working with members to define and maintain GCF’s Certification

Criteria.– Liaising with GCF’s partner organisations.– Advising GCF on how to deal with changes in the market.– Previously a standards manager in Nortel (ITU-T, ETSI, 3GPP)

• MBA, Imperial College, London (2014)

• Professional Engineer (UK CEng)– Master of Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

(2000)

Chris Hogg (GCF Programme Manager)2

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hoggchris/

GCF Certification: Managing conformance and interoperability for Mobile and IoT products

©GCF 2019

Global Certification Forum (GCF) - who are we?

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• The mobile industry’s 3GPP device certification scheme• Not-for-profit, funded by membership contributions only• Major global brands participate

• Top 10+ smartphone manufacturers are all members.• Most major network operator groups are members.• Test industry

• Objective – Ensure that mobile devices interoperates with mobile networks

GCF Certification: Managing conformance and interoperability for Mobile and IoT products

©GCF 2019

For Operators, Manufacturers and the Test Industry4

GCF’s Certification is developed and driven by its members.Members include:

• Network Operators and Service Providers

• Manufacturers

• Test Labs and Test Equipment manufacturers

GCF Certification: Managing conformance and interoperability for Mobile and IoT products

©GCF 2019

Industry Partners

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©GCF 2019

What does GCF Certification cover?GCF Certification: Managing conformance and interoperability for Mobile and IoT products 6

• Compliance to industry specifications • 3GPP, GSMA + others.

• To assess 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G radios, calls and messaging protocols.

• RF, Radio Resource Management, Signaling protocols, UICC/SIM / SIM provisioning, NFC.

• Assessed in frequency bands used by GCF’s Operator members.

• Mobile IoT - 3GPP NB-IoT and CAT M1.

• oneM2M

• Automotive: LTE V2X (band 47)

GCF Certification assesses compliance to mobile and IoT industry specifications.

©GCF 2019

• End users expect reliable mobile products and services.

• New use cases / businesses MUST be built on top of reliable devices and networks.

GCF enables

• Proven interoperability (20+% lower dropped call rate)

• Lowering of testing costs

• Accelerated time to market

Device – Network interoperability is critical

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-10%-5%0%5%

10%15%20%

Percentage Variance From Mean Dropped Call Rate

GCF Members

Non GCFMembers

Mean

GCF Certification: Managing conformance and interoperability for Mobile and IoT products

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A simple certification process…8

Conformance

Interoperability

Field Trials

GCF Certification: Managing conformance and interoperability for Mobile and IoT products

©GCF 2019

Using a network of professional test houses (GCF Recognized Test Organizations and Assessment Capable Entities)

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• All GCF Certification Tests must be performed by a GCF Recognised Test Organisation (RTO).

• GCF RTOs are accredited to ISO17025 / ISO9001.

• RTOs are contracted by GCF members to perform GCF certification test.

• Manufacturers can use the services of ‘Assessment Capable Entities’ (ACE) to – Develop a test plan.– Review the test results.

©GCF 2019

• Development of a robust ecosystem for mobile device certification requires:

Development of certification ecosystem /1

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Requirements GCFRelationship with SDO 3GPP MRPCore specifications 3GPP RANDevice test specifications 3GPP RAN5 + TF160Test equipment X TE suppliersTesting laboratories 66 labs recognisedAgreed test case validation GCF-VPVerification in live networks FTQ programmeSync with SDO Quarterly drumbeatTools for test case management DCC databaseEngagement with SMEs ~3,500 accountsFunding of ecosystem Membership fees

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• Timeline for development– GCF has refined its eco system since 1999– Starting from scratch: estimated minimum 3 years

• Investment & maintenance cost– IT tools development ~2-3 M€ with two years development time– Maintenance cost of 25%– Organisation to host the ecosystem – cost ?

• Other considerations– High complexity of standards -> How to engage experts– Proficiency of test equipment –> high cost of test system solutions

Development of certification ecosystem /2

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©GCF 2019

Required certification tools are complex…

• GCF’s Device Certification Criteria (DCC) database is industry leading.

• DCC has successfully managed increasing complexity from 2G through to 5G.

– 1200 Work Items.– 9000+ test cases.– Live validation status of all major Test Platforms.

• Significant continued investments– DCC database.– GCF’s online certification database

• Listing 1000s of GCF Certified products from 100s of manufacturers.

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GCF has invested over 20+ years in processes and tools to support conformance and IOP assessment for mobile and IoT products

GCF Certification: Managing conformance and interoperability for Mobile and IoT products

©GCF 2019

• GCF certification assesses compliance of mobile and IoT products to industry specifications (3GPP, GSMA, oneM2M).

• GCF is a not for profit group that is member driven.– Operators, Manufacturers, Test Industry.– Global membership.

• Over 20 years, GCF’s members have GCF Certified 1000s of products from 100s of manufacturers.

– Significant and continued investment in systems / tools to enable certification.

• Members use GCF Certification as it reduces their costs and helps them to build a more interoperable product.

Summary /1GCF Certification: Managing conformance and interoperability for Mobile and IoT products 13

©GCF 2019

• GCF welcomes the opportunity to work with ITU-D SG2 members as they further investigate how to manage compliance of mobile, IoT and ICT products.

• GCF would like to invite ITU-D SG2 members to attend a future GCF meeting.– https://www.globalcertificationforum.org/news/events.html

• GCF Board is working on a dedicated membership category for regulators to allow ongoing monitoring and up to date information of GCF’s activities

Summary /2GCF Certification: Managing conformance and interoperability for Mobile and IoT products 14

©GCF 2019 GCF Certification: Managing conformance and interoperability for Mobile and IoT products

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