Additional European Mission Critical Communication Operators join GCF, while new Test Solution is validated for mission-critical-push-to-talk based on 3GPP Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access model
The Global Certification Forum (GCF) and TCCA are pleased to announce increasing industry support for the GCF Certification program for Broadband Mission Critical Services with ASTRID from Belgium, and Erillisverkot from Finland joining GCF as Mission Critical Communication Operators.
ASTRID is the operator of the national radio communications, paging and dispatching network designed for emergency and security services in Belgium, and Erillisverkot is Finland’s state-owned organization responsible for providing mission critical services, software services for situational awareness and services securing critical infrastructure and communication.
These operators join Myndigheten för Samhällsskydd och Beredskap (MSB) from Sweden, the first public safety organization to become a member of the GCF as a Mission Critical Communications Operator (MCCO). Other European organizations are on the process of joining the initiative.
On the Test Equipment side, Keysight Technologies announced being first in the market to validate at GCF 3GPP EUTRA Mission Critical Test Cases using ETSI MCX EUTRA TTCN.
These achievements facilitate conformance testing being adopted to guarantee standards compliance and ensure high reliability, performance and interworking mandated by mission-critical communications.
All these organizations participate in the Mission Critical Services Work Stream, set up by GCF and TCCA to align and speed up the market availability of certified 3GPP standards-based Mission Critical (also referred as Broadband Mission Critical), Services and Devices.
The GCF certification programme assures device-network and client-server compliance to 3GPP standards for mission critical devices and services, as well as contributing to reducing testing cost and accelerating time-to-market.
"The GCF-TCCA collaboration, establishing 3GPP Mission Critical Services certification, is a crucial program that will bring significant benefits to industry manufacturers, network operators and increased confidence to frontline end users. We are pleased to see longstanding TCCA government operator members such as MSB and now ASTRID, and Erillisverkot becoming the first GCF Mission Critical Communications Operators supporting the program,” said TCCA CEO Kevin Graham.
“We look forward to other network operators following their lead and more MCX manufacturers committing to the program to ensure we build robust 3GPP MCX compliant and interoperable ecosystem. The commitment to also establish MCX server to server certification and develop MCX Interoperability Testing Frameworks will ultimately result in Conformance and Interoperability testing covered in GCF MCX Product Certification."
Lars Nielsen, GCF’s CEO, said: “We are pleased to welcome new Mission Critical Communications Operators joining the Global Certification Forum, and the active collaboration of Keysight to validate a new test solution for conformance testing, facilitating the path towards interoperable, 3GPP standards-based mission critical services and devices.”
About GCF
For 25 years the Global Certification Forum (GCF) has been leading the global ecosystem facilitating interoperable devices, networks, and services, enabling reliable and secure wireless communications. GCF’s solutions cover Mission Critical Services, 5G NR, LTE, Cellular IoT (NB-IoT and eMTC), eSIM and legacy technologies. GCF has over 350 members, including major and smaller operators and service providers, device manufacturers, MCS Service providers, and the test industry, working together with key industry partners on certification programmes demanded by the market. www.globalcertificationforum.org
About TCCA
TCCA is committed to advancing global critical communications for a safer, more connected world by helping to empower critical communication users with secure, trusted, and standardised technologies. On behalf of our members, we support all standard mobile critical communications services and complementary applications. TCCA members are drawn from end users, operators and industry across the globe. We believe in and promote the principle of open and competitive markets worldwide through the use of open standards and harmonised spectrum. We drive the development of common global mobile standards for critical broadband and maintain and enhance the TETRA Professional Mobile Radio (PMR) standard. TCCA is the 3GPP Market Representation Partner for critical communications and our members actively contribute in 3GPP working groups and supports the ETSI MCX Plugtests™.
www.tcca.info
www.critical-communications-world.com
About ASTRID
ASTRID is the operator of the national radio communications, paging and dispatching network designed for emergency and security services in Belgium. An initiative created by the Belgian federal authorities, ASTRID provides four key capabilities: radio communications, paging, dispatching solutions, and a mobile voice and data service. Currently, more than 600 organisations within the public safety sector rely on the ASTRID communications network for emergency response and other mission-critical operations. ASTRID has been arranging communication between various emergency and security services in Belgium for more than 25 years. www.astrid.be/en.
About Erillisverkot
Erillisverkot Group enables secure critical operations and communications in all circumstances. Erillisverkot provides the organizations responsible for the security and functionality of the society with mission critical services, software services for situational awareness and services securing critical infrastructure and communication. Erillisverkot is a wholly state-owned special-purpose company. www.erillisverkot.fi
About Keysight Technologies
At Keysight (NYSE: KEYS), we inspire and empower innovators to bring world-changing technologies to life. As an S&P 500 company, we're delivering market-leading design, emulation, and test solutions to help engineers develop and deploy faster, with less risk, throughout the entire product life cycle. We're a global innovation partner enabling customers in communications, industrial automation, aerospace and defense, automotive, semiconductor, and general electronics markets to accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world.
www.keysight.com
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