GENEVA-The International Telecommunication Union said its standardization arm plans to create a focus group that will produce global standards for next-generation networks. The focus group will address what industry experts call “nomadicity,” which allows seamless roaming between fixed and mobile networks in an all-Internet Protocol infrastructure.
“.the Focus Group has given us the means to act with the level of immediacy required,” said Houlin Zhao, director of the ITU telecom standardization bureau.
ITU said it will pool resources and experts from around the industry, including service providers and manufacturers. The work will build on the convergence architectures of groups such as the Third Generation Partnership Project and 3GPP2, said the body.
“Service providers will benefit from specifications that will allow them to move quickly to a packet-based infrastructure,” said Keith Dickerson, head of standards at BT. “And manufacturers will be able to offer NGN (next-generation network) equipment to a global market, customized to user needs but interoperable.”
