Testing successfully completed at ETSI Plugtest

Sophia-Antipolis, France, 30th June 2007, SIM card, handset and infrastructure testing has been successfully completed in June by ETSI Plugtests TM, the interoperability service, in cooperation with SIMalliance.

A major part of the event was the “SIM - Handset interoperability workshop”, with operator deployment of new (U)SIM services now about to be launched, the workshop allowed companies to test - with partners and competitors - the behaviour of key USIM features in their products.

This year, the SIM Plugtests has enlarged its scope by adding a new interoperability workshop “Fast Data Transfer using BIP CAT-TP”, involving a 3-party program for cards, mobiles and real life infrastructure for (U)SIM access Over The Air.

These tests are paving the way to full interoperability necessary for the success of mobile transactions and multimedia applications. For operators it is essential as interoperability is a pre-requisite to easily deploy new commercial applications and services whatever the SIM card,   mobile handset or  OTA Platform used.

Among the series of tests which were carried out:

• Low-level tests such as speed and voltage selection between the SIM and the Handset; necessary for the good functioning of high level applications  
• SIM Toolkit features - such as Refresh, Provide Local Info, UTRAN NMR, which are key for operators to benefit from a set of commands in order to manage services such as Homezone, Preferred Roaming or Operator Portal
• Multiple USIMs - for dual subscriptions
• Phonebook 3G – deployment of bigger phonebooks (up to 2540 entries) and back up on a server
• RAM RFM BIP – for OTA management of files and applications allowing operators to launch a host of new applications and update SIM cards quickly Over The Air; this protocol is pushing the limits of today’s OTA management by SMS.

USIM card suppliers from SIMalliance, handset manufacturers and OTA platform providers have successfully demonstrated the high level of interoperability of this data transfer technology allowing network operators to have greater confidence in the ability for the fast data transfer of large data packets to the SIM. 

Eric Laffont and Amedeo Veneroso, Chairmen of SIMalliance‘s participating Workgroups said:

“This latest ETSI Plugtests event confirms SIMalliance’s strong commitment in promoting (U)SIM card ecosystems by supporting interoperability in telecom environments. Since the very beginning, SIMalliance has supported the organization of the ETSI SIM Plugtests events, paving the way for the interoperability of Java Card application and interoperability between SIM cards and Handsets to reduce market fragmentation.”

The Test Equipment Industry was also actively involved in the workshop and presented state-of-the-art tools for SIM card and Handset testing.

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NOTES TO EDITORS

About the Plugtests Service of ETSI

The ETSI Plugtests Service is a professional service that specializes in the organization of interoperability events for any telecommunication / Internet / Information Technology standard.

About ETSI

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) plays a major role in global standardization of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), including telecommunications and broadcasting. ETSI unites around 700 member companies from nearly 60 countries, including manufacturers, network operators, administrations, service providers, research bodies and users – in fact, all the key players in the ICT arena.

For information on the ETSI Smart Card Project; http://portal.etsi.org/scp

For information about 3GPP; www.3gpp.org  and  http://www.3gpp.org/TB/T/T3/T3.htm  (smart cards)

For general information about ETSI: www.etsi.org

About the SIMalliance:

Putting the SIM at the heart of the new mobile eco-system: Over the past five years SIMalliance has become one of the world’s foremost commentators in the mobile business. By operating outside the singular commercial interests of any individual SIM card player, the association has been able to pinpoint the mission critical services on the horizon and help steer their development to meet the practical needs of the mobile market.

With SIMalliance members* now responsible for nine in every ten SIM cards sold worldwide, the collective vision of the association is uniquely placed to shape SIM developments and the impact they will have on the new generation of mobile services. From their standpoint, the challenge couldn’t be clearer for the protagonists in the mobile eco-system.

* SIMalliance members are: Eastcompeace, Gemalto, Giesecke & Devrient, Incard, Oberthur Card Systems, Prism (A Net1 Company), Sagem Orga, SanDisk and  XPonCard

For more information: www.simalliance.org