PORTLAND, Ore.—Hewlett-Packard Co., Intel Corp., Motorola Inc., Nortel Networks Ltd. and Siemens A.G. are just a few of the heavy-hitters aiming to certify interoperability requirements through a new trade group, the Communications Platforms Trade Association, which launches today.
The CP-TA described itself as “an association of communications platform and building-block providers dedicated to accelerating the adoption of SIG-governed, open specification-based communications platforms through interoperability testing and certification. With industry collaboration, the CP-TA plans to drive a mainstream market for Open Industry Standard Communications Platforms by certifying interoperable products.”
The group explained that although the communications platforms industry has developed a set of open specifications in order to build modular communications platforms, the number of optional requirements and inconsistent interpretations of mandatory requirements have prevented the industry from moving to the next level of interoperability. The CP-TA says it intends to drive the creation of the mainstream market for open industry standard communications platforms by certifying hardware and software building block compliance to interoperability test requirements along with detailed test procedures supported by industry-harmonized automated test suites and benchmarks. The group said its test requirements would be based on existing open specifications from the SA Forum, PICMG and OSDL and on system-level profiles developed by SCOPE, adding that periodic CP-TA Interoperability Plugfests would provide a confidential environment for CP-TA members to coordinate and execute automated test suites, as well as offer a multi-vendor environment for enhanced interoperability testing.
“The CP-TA brings together industry leaders who are collaborating to establish a true standards-based ecosystem that delivers interoperable products from multiple vendors,” said Shlomo Pri-Tal, chairman of CP-TA. “CP-TA will focus on certification, the essential ‘third element’ required to realize the full benefits of an open, standards-based communications platform. We are working closely with PICMG, the Service Availability Forum and the SCOPE Alliance, complementing their processes to realize this interoperability vision.”
Ultimately, the CP-TA says its certified building blocks and base platforms that are consistent with SCOPE profiles will help network equipment providers simplify the selection process, increase supply chain flexibility, increase predictability of successful integration and reduce lifecycle management costs. Service providers would be able to increase the flexibility and scalability of their network as well as realize faster time to market with new, innovative services.
“We want products that are better, cheaper and faster, as well as safe, reliable, and high performing,” said Jim Sylvester, vice president of Technology at Verizon Communications Inc. “To meet the latter requirements, the telecom industry relies on [Network Equipment Building Systems] requirements; the AdvancedTCA specification needs to support our NEBS requirements. We look forward to the increased reliability and interoperability that CP-TA certified building blocks will give us.”
