Following the Femto Forum’s announcement earlier this week to hold a second plugfest, TRaC Telecoms & Radio has today confirmed it will once again be facilitating the interoperability testing event and ongoing interoperability program.
The agreement comes after TRaC facilitated the world’s first femtocell plugfest event earlier this year, which received widespread vendor support and was attended by more than 20 companies. TRaC and the Femto Forum are now making plans for the second plugfest and looking to build on their already successful partnership.
To be held towards the end of 2010, this second plugfest will focus on the Broadband Forum’s femtocell management standard, building on the work of the Forum’s first plugfest on the Iuh interface.
Karim Sharf, chief operating officer at TRaC, commented: “Femtocells and their deployment is undoubtedly becoming a significant focus for many telecommunications operators.
“By holding a second plugfest we can really drive forward the development of femtocell technology, providing valuable feedback to standards organizations and ensuring consistent interoperability between vendors’ equipment.”
TRaC and the Femto Forum both see interoperability as integral to the successful uptake of femtocells. In order to address this need, the Forum created an interoperability testing special interest group (IOT SIG) and asked Karim Sharf, the vice chair of the SIG, to act as editor for the interoperability test specifications document, being used as the basis for the plugfest program.
“Open and effective standards are central to the success of femtocells. They provide operators and users with a real choice of devices while also driving economies of scale to bring down the cost of the technology,” said Simon Saunders, Chairman of the Femto Forum. “TRaC was instrumental in the success of our first plugfest and we look forward to continuing our partnership in the future.”
TRaC, which opened a flagship independent DSL testing facility at its UK headquarters following re-location from North America just six months ago, provides comprehensive regulatory and interoperability testing of femtocell products to help drive forward their deployment in a diverse range of communications infrastructure applications.
Karim added: “Whilst our reputation for operating testing programs holds high esteem in the telecommunications industry, to be facilitating the Femto Forum’s femtocell plugfests is a real testament to what we have created.”