The Global MultiService Forum (MSF) is hosting an LTE interoperability testing event over the next two weeks at Vodafone’s Centre for Test and Innovation in Düsseldorf and the China Mobile Research Institute Lab in Beijing. The testing focuses on validating Evolved Packet Core network interfaces to enable multi-vendor deployment strategies for LTE technology.
The MSF event, a global first to focus on multi-vendor, multi-operator interoperability spanning multiple sites, promotes and fosters compatibility and interoperability with participating network equipment vendors and operators including Vodafone, China Mobile, NEC, Starent Networks (now part of Cisco), Huawei, ZTE, Alcatel-Lucent, Agilent and Codenomicon. The event is an important step toward validating MSF architectural framework release 5 for LTE, developed to incorporate 3GPP System Architecture Evolution.
“Operators such as China Mobile and Vodafone require extensive interoperability between vendors to accelerate the evolution towards LTE,” said David Francisco, MultiService Forum board member. “The Global MSF Interoperability event in Düsseldorf and Beijing represents an important landmark in the standards-based evolution to LTE, especially in the evolved packet core.”
The event will test products like the standards-based Bridgewater Home Subscriber Server for HSS 1.0 (S6a interface), the Bridgewater Policy Controller for PCRF 4.0 (Gx, Gxc interfaces), and the Bridgewater 3GPP AAA Interworking Module for 3GPP AAA 8.3 (S6b, STa interfaces).
“Bridgewater’s commitment to the broadest set of LTE control plane interoperability with major equipment vendors ensures that operators can adopt a multi-vendor, multi-access approach,” said David Sharpley, senior vice president at Bridgewater Systems, which is the only LTE control plane specialist at the event. The company also recently announced a multimillion-dollar LTE win at MetroPCS as well as LTE trials with five Tier 1 mobile operators in Asia Pacific and North and South America. “Our unique ‘control-plane-in-a-box’ approach which combines the Bridgewater Home Subscriber Server, Policy Controller and Inter-working capabilities allows operators to rapidly and cost-effectively trial, launch, and scale LTE deployments.”
