The Board of the Network Interoperability Consultative Committee (NICC) met on 11 October. A warm welcome was accorded to Mark Ashworth, who was recently elected Chairman of the Special Systems & Public Equipment Interest Group (SSPE-IG). Thanks were noted to Peter Clarke, Joe Ettinger, Rod Hamblion, Peter Hoath and Mark Watson for their valuable contributions to NICC groups and specific work items.

All Board members expressed concern about the impact of economic realities on the resources available and the resultant reduced level of participation in NICC activities. Oftel is concerned that a short-term view of issues by the industry and any consequent failure to address them may result in consumers being disadvantaged. The NICC has successfully addressed many diverse issues over the years and it is clearly preferable for industry volunteers to develop their own answers, rather than have solutions imposed from outside.

The NICC Board agreed a recommendation from the SSPE-IG and the Private Systems and Terminal Suppliers Interest Group (PSTS-IG) that they combine into one single manufacturers' group. This move reflects the technological developments that have blurred the traditional distinction between public and private network switches and the reduction in the regulation of terminal equipment. The Chairmen of the respective groups will choose a new name, develop terms of reference and arrange election of officers. Manufacturers of communications equipment, who may be interested in influencing the development of standards for use in the U.K., are invited to contact NICC to discuss their possible involvement in this new group.

A report was received from the UK ISUP Administrative Working Group (AWG), which is working to ensure an orderly migration of the UK networks to the use of the UK version of ETSI Signalling System No.7 Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) User Part (UK ISUP) for interconnection. This work is progressing on schedule and the first trials have commenced between BT and Orange.

The Board reviewed the work of the many NICC Task Groups (TGs) and reluctantly agreed to put several items into suspense pending availability of resources. This move does not however detract from the successful prosecution of other activities by the industry, which included the following notable items.

The Essential Requirements (ER) TG has completed its work. The last document, formal criteria for operators' use when restricting service under licence condition 20, was formally approved for submission to the Director General and subsequent consultation.

New standards have been completed by several task groups under the NICC Interconnect Standards Committee and passed formal vote to be released for publication. Information on these is available on Oftel's website. Some documents are freely available for download, others (indicated in the index as 'Published Documents') may be purchased from the British Standards Institute.

The trial version of the Access Network Frequency Plan for the Sub-loop (ANFP-S) developed by the Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) TG was approved for publication. Work continues on DSL documentation to cover the Kingston Communications network, but has been temporarily suspended on the ANFP Field Test Specification and LLU Line Sharing aspects due to lack of resources.

NICC Open Forum 2001 - Tuesday 20 November 2001
As we go to press the arrangements for this year's event at the I.E.E. in Savoy Place, London are being finalised. The day's theme is Living in an IP World and the planned presentations cover the world of standardisation, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), the transition from IPv4 to Ipv6, soft-switches, VDSL and future developments in the Internet service providers' world. Reflecting the spirit of technical co-operation on which NICC is founded, the event is being jointly sponsored by Alcatel, BT, Energis, Ericsson, NTL, Orange, Telewest and Vodafone. The slides from each presentation will be published on Oftel's website.

Joining NICC
Interested parties from industry are invited to join the NICC Task and Interest Groups by initially contacting the NICC Technical Secretary to discuss their interests.

For general information about NICC, please visit the NICC section of the Oftel website (www.oftel.gov.uk/ind_groups/nicc). Otherwise please contact the NICC Technical Secretary, Roy Davies (tel: 020 7634 8906 / e-mail roy.davies@oftel.gov.uk or Network Interoperability Programme Manager, Bill Hawkins (tel: 020 7634 8807 / e-mail bill.hawkins@oftel.gov.uk).