Print-Ready Version
Services > Testing > Integrated Access >

IDLC (GR-8/GR-303) and Class 5 TDM Switch Dial Tone Solutions

A high-level view of an access system utilizing GR-303-based access technology in a Class 5 TDM switching environment is illustrated below. Telcordia offers analysis and consulting services covering all aspects of access architecture, including voice and data interfaces/services.

A high-level view of an access system utilizing GR-303-based access technology in a Class 5 TDM switching environment

There are seven standard service offerings related to this access architecture, these include:

(1) Access Technology Consulting
(2) GR-303 Informal Testing
(3) GR-303 Unit Testing
(4) GR-303 Interoperability Testing
(5) GR-8 Technical Analysis of an Access Product
(6) GR-57 Technical Analysis of an Access Product
(7) EOC Application Conformance Analysis Tool (EACAT)

Contact Scott Yeomans (+1 732-699-3443) for more information on any of the above analysis services, or if you are interested in support in an area not covered by this listing of formal offers.

  1. Access Technology Consulting: The GR-303/GR-8/GR-57/GR-909 consulting service offering can be performed at either Telcordia or the Supplier’s location. Access technology consulting services includes: interpretation of applicable requirements; product design reviews; and help with understanding specifications for currently deployed access product network elements.
  2. GR-303 Informal Unit/Interoperability Testing (GR-303 Informal Testing): The GR-303 informal testing service offering is designed for Suppliers to have early access to Telcordia’s GR-303 subject matter experts for testing and requirements, custom GR-303 test equipment, and currently deployed GR-303 network elements. Information gathered during the GR-303 Informal Testing is given to the Supplier for internal use only. Testing is arranged in one-week minimum blocks, and the agenda is determined by the needs of the Supplier.

    GR-303 is a complex interface to design and implement. Access to GR-303 expertise, network elements, and test equipment is very limited, especially for RDT-only and IDT-only Suppliers. Business leaders want to reduce time-to-market and development costs. Suppliers need to know if they are on the right track as soon as possible. It is costly to make changes late in the development cycle and early intervention is critical.

    GR-303 Informal Testing provides access to GR-303 Subject Matter Experts for: interpretation of GR-303 requirements; testing of GR-303 interfaces; and understanding specifications of currently deployed GR-303 interfaces.

    GR-303 Informal Testing of RDT network elements enables access to Telcordia’s three in-house major local digital switches:

    • Lucent 5ESS® Integrated Digital Carrier Unit (IDCU) GR-303 interface
    • Nortel DMS®-100 SMA GR-303 interface
    • Siemens EWSD® Line/Trunk Group (LTG) GR-303 interface

    GR-303 Informal Testing of IDT network elements can also include working with selected embedded RDT network elements.

    GR-303 Informal Unit testing utilizes Telcordia’s GR-303 IDT/RDT Emulator Test Bed with the following capabilities:

    • Up to 28 ESF DS1s
    • Up to 2048 POTS/UVG/Coin/ISDN line terminations
    • Full LAPD (Q.921) emulation
    • Automatic TMC (Q.931)/RBS call processing
    • EOC Application/Conformance Analysis Tool (EACAT)

    GR-303 Informal Interoperability Testing utilizes Telcordia’s GR-303 Monitor Mode Test Bed with the following capabilities:

    • Monitors all LAPD (Q.921) interactions
    • Monitors all TMC (Q.931)/RBS call processing messages
    • Monitors all EOC interactions using Telcordia’s EACAT tool

    Download this PDF file for more information on Informal Unit Testing.

    Top

  3. GR-303 Unit Conformance Analysis (GR-303 Unit Testing): In this service offering, the Telcordia GR-303 Testbed is utilized to conduct a "Features, Functions, and Performance Analysis" against the requirements contained in GR-303-CORE, "IDLC System Generic Requirements, Objectives, and Interface", in areas listed in Telcordia SR-2786 that describes Telcordia Testbed capabilities. Telcordia will use the process described in SR-1967, "Description of the Technical Analysis Process". The estimated time for the GR-303 Unit Conformance Analysis is six weeks, and the result of this formal analysis is a fully distributable technical analysis report. The distribution of the report is controlled by the Supplier. The six weeks do not include any retesting of fixes or new features included in new upgrades. At the conclusion of the testing period, Telcordia can conduct a readout meeting with your customers at which time we would present a summary of our findings. The draft copy of the report is usually available within three weeks after the completion of our testing.

    The Telcordia analysis typically includes the following work against the stated criteria areas:

    • GR-303-CORE, Integrated Digital Loop Carrier System Generic Requirements, Objectives, and Interface, Issue 4, December 2000 ("GR-303")
    • Telcordia shall use the process described in SR-NWT-001967, Description of the Technical Analysis Process for a TR-TSY-000303 Generic Interface, Issue 1, September 1991 ("SR-1967"), for the analysis.

    The following features are analyzed with the use of the Telcordia GR-303 testbed during this analysis:

    • Digital Transmission Facility (DS1)
    • Data Link Layer (LAPD)
      • Functionality
      • Data Link Path Switching (DLPS)
    • Timeslot Management Channel (TMC)
    • Robbed Bit Signaling (RBS)
    • Call Processing
      • Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) Line Units (LUs)
      • Universal Voice Grade (UVG) LUs
      • Dial-Tone-First (DTF) Coin LUs
      • Basic Rate ISDN LUs
    • Voice Frequency Transmission
    • Embedded Operations Channel (EOC)
      • Provisioning
      • Maintenance
      • Fault Notification
    • System Level Functionality

    Top

  4. GR-303 Interoperability Analysis with a Digital Switch (GR-303 Interoperability Testing): In this service offering, Telcordia can perform a Features, Functions and Performance Analysis of the GR-303 compatibility of a GR-303 network element digitally integrated into: the Integrated Digital Carrier Unit (IDCU) GR-303 interface of a Lucent 5ESS; the SMA interface of a Nortel DMS-100; or the Line/Trunk Group (LTG) GR-303 interface of a Siemens EWSD Local Digital Switch (LDS) operating under the latest Software Release according to the test procedures in GR-303 and GR303-IMD.

    The following areas are covered during an analysis:

    • System, line and service provisioning
    • Call Reference Value provisioning
    • Provisioning retention
    • System Maintenance and Alarms
    • Channel, Line, and Subscriber and Loop/Drop Testing
    • Voice Frequency Transmission and Signaling
    • DS1 Physical and Logical Layer Testing
    • Traffic Loading
    • Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) feature transparency testing
    • POTS, Coin and Ground-start line feature transparency testing

    Assumptions:

    For the purpose of the Access Product Features, Functions and Performance Analysis:

    • The Lucent 5ESS IDCU, Nortel DMS-100 SMA, and Siemens EWSD LTG interfaces shall be considered to be mature deployed interfaces. Any issues resulting from either the Product under test not conforming to GR-303, or from the product not being compatible with the Switch characteristics that may or may not be described in GR-303, shall be attributed to the Product issues in Telcordia’s Technical Analysis Report.
    • Telcordia’s Technical Analysis Report shall identify only the issues relating to the Product (under test) compatibility and will not address performance problems relating to the Switch Interface.

    Download this PDF file for more information on Product Interoperability Testing.

    Top

  5. GR-8 Technical Analysis of an Access Product: In this service offering, the product is tested against SLC96® (or a Local Digital Switch specified by a customer) using criteria in GR-8-CORE, "Digital Interface between the SLC96® Digital Loop Carrier System and a Local Digital Switch". The estimated time to complete this work is two weeks. At the conclusion of the testing period, Telcordia can conduct a readout meeting with your customers at which time we would present a summary of our findings. A draft copy of the report is available within three weeks after the completion of testing.

  6. GR-57 Technical Analysis of an Access Product: This service offering covers anything from the transmission and signaling analysis of a line unit or Integrated Access Device (IAD), to a full Features, Functions, and Performance analysis of a GR-57 system. All 2-wire and 4-wire switched and non-switched specials can be analyzed against the requirements in GR-57. In addition, during this analysis a limited set of environmental tests can be performed on the system under test. These limited environmental tests can include operation at temperature extremes, lightning surge, and ac power fault tests. Telcordia can conduct a readout meeting with your customers at which time we would present a summary of our findings. A draft copy of the report is available within three weeks after the completion of testing.

  7. EOC Application Conformance Analysis Tool (EACAT): The Embedded Operations Channel (EOC) Application Conformance Analysis Tool is a Sun OS based application that can be used for testing, debugging, and analysis of the Embedded Operations Channel capabilities of an Integrated Digital Loop Carrier (IDLC) implementation during design and development. EACAT allows the user to generate and interpret GR-303 EOC messages to and from a system under test using a TCP connection.

    8. EACAT performs three major functions:

    • Agent or Manager Emulation - As an Agent emulator, EACAT receives requests from a Manager implementation and transmit responses to a Manager implementation. As a Manager emulator, EACAT generates messages to the user’s Agent implementation and displays data received from the Agent Implementation.
    • Printing of Transmitted and Received APDUs - The printing of transmitted and received messages is in real time. The display format is in hexadecimal and English text, and is based on the definitions in GR-303-IMD.
    • Data Storage - In addition to printing on the screen, EACAT can store all the transmitted and received APDUs in chronological order, where transmitted and received APDUs are interleaved sequentially.

    EACAT benefits to the Supplier include:

    • Allows the Supplier to generate and interpret GR-303 EOC messages to and from a system under test using a TCP connection in order to test their implementation of the GR-303 EOC protocol.
    • Allows the user to format English messages, which are converted by EACAT using the ROSE/CMISE/ASN.1 protocol and then transmitted in the form of Application Layer Protocol Data Units, or APDUs.
    • Conversely, APDUs are received which are also converted through EACAT using the ROSE/CMISE/ASN.1 protocol and are then translated into English messages. All of these interactions demonstrate to the Supplier the conformance of their implementation.

    EACAT is based on the EOC, which is formally defined in the GR-303-IMD document. The protocol stack used for the GR-303 EOC is known as the "short stack". It does not include the entire seven-layer Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) stack, which implies that a special application had to be developed since no off-the-shelf products exist for this type of architecture.

    Download this PDF file for more information related to the Telcordia Embedded Operations Channel Analysis Tool.

Contact Scott Yeomans (732-699-3443) for more information on any of the above analysis services.