About the NVIOT Forum

Introduction

The Network Vendors Interoperability Testing (NVIOT) Forum is an informal group of leading 3GPP-based wireless equipment suppliers.

The members of the NVIOT forum are committed to interoperability testing and open-standards. The group's intent is to produce relevant documents to ensure that their equipment/solutions will interoperate from the very beginning, and therefore enable rapid establishment of multi-vendor networks.

The NVIOT Forum also aims at identifying common IOT methodology and procedures to improve and optimize the IOT process. See Scope of Work for more information on the activities within the NVIOT Forum which are carried out to achieve these aims.

It is expected that operators will significantly benefit from this initiative. It will allow identification and solution of interoperability issues early on, improving the quality of tests and associated documentation, and reduce network integration costs and facilitate the commercial deployment of mobile systems.

Agreed principles for 3GPP compatible products

Identified and highlighted common IOT issues

Improved quality of IOT process

Faster preparation and setup by use of common specifications

Greater flexibility in testing options

Identification of future requirements and technology evolution

History

3rd of March 2000

Creation of the informal NVIOT Forum was announced by its founding members Alcatel, Ericsson, Lucent, Motorola, Nokia, Nortel Networks and Siemens. The objective was to further ensure that General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) systems from multiple vendors are interoperable.

12th of September 2000

The NVIOT Forum expanded its scope to include UMTS IOT during the 7th NVIOT Forum Steering Committee meeting, all members committing to continue the activities with further releases of GPRS and UMTS.

25th of February 2004

The NVIOT Forum expanded its scope to include IMS IOT during the 21st Steering Committee meeting.

15th of May 2008

The NVIOT Forum expanded its scope to include LTE/SAE IOT during the 34th Steering Committee meeting.

March 2016

The NVIOT forum decided to study network evolution and the feasibility of extending its scope to new technologies such as NFV/SDN and Internet of Things (IoT).

October 2017

The NVIOT forum added 5G to its scope of work including 5G NSA (Non Stand Alone) and new 5G SA (Stand Alone) interfaces.

Organisation

The structure of the NVIOT Forum is shown in the diagram below.

Steering Committee

The purpose of the NVIOT Steering Committee is to manage the processes and procedures of the NVIOT Forum. It is the steering body for the work groups. The Steering Committee defines the scope of the work by setting the requirements, priorities and by monitoring the work. Work Groups report to the Steering Committee via the Work Group chairpersons. Additionally, the Steering Committee provides a forum to exchange and develop ideas of common interest

The role of the Steering Committee is to decide:

Scope and extent of NVIOT Forum work
The scope of the work groups
NVIOT Forum communication
New members
Maintain the IOT Methodology

The responsibilities of the Steering Committee are:

Establish, monitor and terminate work groups
Define the master test catalogue roadmaps
Maintain the IOT Methodology
Maintain the NVIOT Organisation and Working Practices
Agree customer communication and public events
Agree the NVIOT Forum documentation availability
Identify new development ideas

CN Interfaces Work Group

Responsible for the creation and maintenance of the NVIOT master test catalogues for the core network interfaces based on the relevant 3GPP standards. They manage JTP and JTR templates for each catalogue.

RAN Interfaces Work Group

Responsible for the creation and maintenance of the NVIOT master test catalogues for the RAN interfaces. The vendors use these templates in their bi-lateral IOT activities.