Preparing for WTSA Issues on SG Structure

1. Preparing for WTSAIssues on SG Structure   Gary Fishman ITU-T TSAG Chairman Preparatory Meeting for Africa for WTSA-04 Victoria Falls, 23-25 June 2004

2. What is the issue? • What work should be done in ITU-T? • How should this work be organized? • What are the objectives for restructuring the Study Groups (SGs)? • How will SG structure stay relevant? WTSA Preparatory Group for Africa Victoria Falls 23-25 June 2004

3. What work should be done in ITU-T? • TSAG examined the work of all the SGs and work for the future • Identified about 40 “Blocks” of work that should be treated as indivisible units. For example: • Block 3A: tariff & accounting principles • Block 5A: EMI • Block 13B: architecture, interworking and multi-protocol networks except Ethernet WTSA Preparatory Group for Africa Victoria Falls 23-25 June 2004

4. How should this work be organized? • Related Blocks are being associated into about 15-20 Functional Groupings. For example: • Performance FG = Block 12A (all of SG12) + Block 13A (WP4/13) • EMI = Block 5A (all of SG5) WTSA Preparatory Group for Africa Victoria Falls 23-25 June 2004

5. What are the objectives for restructuring the SGs • Efficiency, relevance, clear mandates • Visibility to outside world • Many different views and objectives have been introduced by the membership • See recent report on restructuring work in TSAG TD/340 Rev.1 WTSA Preparatory Group for Africa Victoria Falls 23-25 June 2004

6. ITU-T should have a strong presence in certain areas • Critical areas for future work must include: • Next Generation Network (NGN) • Security • Mobility • “E-Everything” • Network infrastructure: Optical Transport, IP-based Networks, Network Management, Signalling, Performance, EMC, Architecture, Interoperability, etc. WTSA Preparatory Group for Africa Victoria Falls 23-25 June 2004

7. What seems to be nearly agreed? • Continue the SG as is • SG3 – Tariff and accounting principles • SG5 – Electromagnetic compatibility • SG6 – Outside plant WTSA Preparatory Group for Africa Victoria Falls 23-25 June 2004

8. What seems to be nearly agreed? • Core work of a SG to continue, with possible additions • SG4 – Network management • SG12 – End-to-end performance • SG15 – Transmission systems • SG16 – Multimedia WTSA Preparatory Group for Africa Victoria Falls 23-25 June 2004

9. What seems to be nearly agreed? • Other SGs that are being treated as Blocks • SG11 – Signalling • SSG – IMT-2000 and beyond WTSA Preparatory Group for Africa Victoria Falls 23-25 June 2004

10. Trends in Functional Groupings • Consolidate Network Operations: combine WP2/2 and Network Management (SG4) • Consolidate Performance: combine WP4/13 and SG12 • Build an NGN SG: discussion continues on what and how much to include • Build a Security SG WTSA Preparatory Group for Africa Victoria Falls 23-25 June 2004

11. BUT – to make it interesting • Two approaches: Change for change sake vs. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it • Balance between: massive consolidation into a few large Study Groups vs. Study Groups based on specific topics and expertise WTSA Preparatory Group for Africa Victoria Falls 23-25 June 2004

12. Some issues to be resolved • Numbering, Naming, Addressing, Routing: Block 2A (mostly the current WP1/2) – where to place? • Keep Cable Broadcast together (SG9), make small modifications or split it up completely? • Signalling – a SG or part of another SG? • Keep a Mobility SG (SSG) or merge with other work? WTSA Preparatory Group for Africa Victoria Falls 23-25 June 2004

13. Some issues to be resolved • What goes into the NGN Study Group? • What goes into the Security Study Group? • Numerous details of work allocation among 150+ study questions WTSA Preparatory Group for Africa Victoria Falls 23-25 June 2004

14. Considerations • Some consolidation of work will help • Avoid divergent solutions • Share time of experts among study items • Reduce need for liaisons • Too much consolidation of work will hurt • Less time per study item during meeting • Parallel meetings cannot be covered by experts • External liaison relationships become less clear WTSA Preparatory Group for Africa Victoria Falls 23-25 June 2004

15. Consequences...orWhy do we care? • Make ITU-T THE most attractive place to do international standards • Make best use of experts’ time and resources • Avoid duplication and overlap of work • Lower costs to membership and to ITU • A bad structure will slow down or stop work; a good structure can speed up work WTSA Preparatory Group for Africa Victoria Falls 23-25 June 2004

16. Maintaining Future Relevance • TSAG is responsible to review progress of the work programme, the allocation of work among ITU-T SGs and between ITU-T and ITU-R • WTSA Resolution 22 gives TSAG authority to change study group structure between WTSAs and to create groups with short life-times WTSA Preparatory Group for Africa Victoria Falls 23-25 June 2004

17. Background Information WTSA Preparatory Group for Africa Victoria Falls 23-25 June 2004

18. ITU-T Study Groups SG2: Operational aspects of service provision, networks and performance SG3: Tariff and accounting principles including related telecommunications economic and policy issues SG4: Telecommunication management, including TMN SG5: Protection against electromagnetic environment effects SG6: Outside plant SG9: Integrated broadband cable networks and television and sound transmission SG11: Signalling requirements and protocols SG12: End-to-end transmission performance of networks and terminals SG13: Multi-protocol and IP-based networks and their internetworking SG15: Optical and other transport networks SG16: Multimedia services, systems and terminals SG17: Data networks and telecommunication software SSG: IMT-2000 and Beyond WTSA Preparatory Group for Africa Victoria Falls 23-25 June 2004

19. Contacts WTSA Preparatory Group for Africa Victoria Falls 23-25 June 2004