1. Overview MSF LTE/EPC IOT
David Francisco, Helmut Schink
ITU Regional Consultation on Conformance/Interoperability
Nairobi, Kenya

2. What is the MSF?
The MultiService Forum (MSF) is a global association of service providers and system suppliers committed to developing and promoting open-architecture, multiservice switching systems.
Founded in 1998, the MSF is an open-membership organization.
The MSF’s activities include developing implementation agreements, promoting worldwide compatibility and interoperability, and encouraging input to appropriate national and international standards bodies.
For more information about the MSF and its members, visit the MSF web site at

3. MSF Principal Members- 2009/103

4. Where the MSF Fits
MSF is not a Standards Development Organization (SDO)
Focus on developing meaningful physical implementations of standards
Use of large-scale interoperability events to test and validate standards implementations of interest to major carriers
Provides significant resource for members to leverage for achieving multi-vendor solutions
Provides key implementation feedback to vendors, carriers and SDO’s

5. Validated, commercially viable Implementation Agreements (IAs)
MSF Industry fit
SDO community
Standards
Carriers
Vendors
Feedback
Implementations
Validated, commercially viable Implementation Agreements (IAs)
NGN Architectural
Framework
Physical Scenarios
Protocol Selection
MSF IA’s
Test Plans
Testing & Interoperability Programmes
MSF 5

6. MSF Focus
MSF
Interop testing is only meaningful in the context of a specific network configuration
NGN Architectural
Framework
Options must be specified, and ambiguities clarified
Physical Scenarios
Protocol Selection
MSF IA’s
Detailed test plans required to ensure complete coverage and consistency
Test Plans
Testing & Interoperability Programmes
Interop program requires start-to-finish program management and coordination
Validated, commercially viable Implementation Agreements (IAs)
Interop programs are best at validating the standards (not products) 6 6

7. MSF Delivery Process
Focus on accelerating the deployment of new technologies emerging from standards by supporting interoperability and test events as required by MSF members
Rapid development model
Mapping of SDO architectures to real world implementations
Develop physical scenarios
Develop detailed test cases
Profile protocols where necessary to facilitate the testing
Provide key implementation feedback to vendors, carriers and standards organisations

8. EPC / LTE Interop Event
MSF EPC/LTE Interoperability Event was hosted March 15 – 20, 2010 by the Vodafone Test and Innovation Centre, Dusseldorf, Germany and China Mobile facilities in Beijing
Designed to test standards compliance of vendors implementation of Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network scenarios to 3GPP Release 8 standards
Gauge vendor support for this technology
Mix and match of different vendor EPC network elements to test interoperability
Performed inter-site and intra-site testing
8 Vendors participated in the event 8

9. The Test Network - Düsseldorf
ZTE eNB 2.6 GHz
UE Samsung
eHRPD simulator Starent
IMS simulator Starent
SGi
ZTE eNB 2.6GHz
S6a
S101
MME STA
MME NEC
MME ZTE
S-GW STA
S-GW NEC
S-GW ZTE
HSS BW
HSS ZTE
P-GW STA
P-GW NEC
P-GW ZTE
PCRF BW
PCRF ZTE
IP VPN Tunnel
S1 UP
S1 CP
S11 S5 Gx Rx S8 S9
S10 X2

10. The Test Network - Beijing
SGi
Huawei eNB
S6a
UE Simulator
MME STA
MME ALU
MME ZTE
S-GW STA
S-GW ALU
S-GW ZTE
HSS HUA
HSS ZTE
P-GW STA
P-GW ALU
P-GW ZTE
PCRF HUA
IP VPN Tunnel
S1 UP
S1 CP
S11 S5 Gx S8
S10
PCRF ZTE
PCRF ALU S9

11. Event Planning Project Plan Hire full-time Event Coordinator
Determine host sites i.e., carrier labs
Project Requirements Document (PRD)
Event announcement to industry – press release
Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
Participant recruitment package
Letter of Invitation
Letter of Intent
Participant contract (Event Agreement)
Event execution documents, etc.
Tool requirements (scheduling, test data recording, reports)
Network and addressing plans
Requests for information from participants
Master test schedule
Pre-event briefing presentations
Implementation Agreements (IAs)
Test Plans
Other documents as needed

12. Event Testing Determine interfaces and functions to be tested
Create physical architecture document
Test plans written from 3GPP R8 specifications by MSF member companies
Protocol profiles written where required
Labs and vendor equipment configured (1 week set-up, 2 weeks testing, 1 week removal)
Test results loaded into test tool by event monitors – only test partners see results
Patching/retesting if time permits

13. Event Wrap-up Create Press Release Analysis test data
Write White Paper – test setup, results (all results are non-attributable)
Liaison appropriate SDOs regarding problems found
Lessons learned – all participants discuss what went well and what could be done better
Determine what event testing is to be carried forward as well as candidates for future testing

14. MSF LTE/EPC by the Numbers
2 Number of test labs
18 Months from planning to white paper
50 Engineers on site (both labs)
40 Company support engineers on call (both labs)
300 Test plan pages
95 Test cases
550 Scheduled tests – different vendor configurations
12 days of testing
11 hours/day of testing

15. EPC / LTE Interop Event White Paper
A free download of the event white paper “MSF LTE Interoperability Event – Multivendor testing in global
Evolved Packet Core Networks” is currently available:
The MSF work plan for 2010/2011 consist of 1) LTE/EPS Phase 2 that builds on the recent LTE event success, 2) MSF/ATIS IIF IPTV IOT, 3) Content Distribution Networks (CDN) that builds on and broadens the IPTV work, 4) Performance Testing and 5) Robustness testing across all of the above mentioned areas.