WHAT ARE THE OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE OF THE PLUGTESTS EVENT?

The concept of “Mission Critical Push To Talk" (MCPTT), “Mission Critical Data (MCData)” and “Mission Critical Video (MCVideo)” started with 3GPP Release-13 and is ongoing in current Releases. 
Interoperability and Mission Critical service harmonization are critical challenges for the successful deployment and operation of Mission Critical Communication. 

The goal of the MCX Plugtests event is to validate the interoperability of a variety of implementations using different test scenarios based on 3GPP Mission Critical Services in Release-15. The MCX Plugtests event will, besides mission critical features which have been tested in past MCX Plugtests, be extended to initially test railways-oriented capabilities in 3GPP Release-15, a step towards new FRMCS (Future Railway Mobile Communication System). 

The tests are based on 3GPP, ETSI and IETF standards, and are designed for the following equipment:

• MCS Application Servers (MCPTT, MCDATA, MCVIDEO)
• MCS Clients (MCPTT, MCDATA, MCVIDEO)
• eMBMS Components
• IMS / SIP Cores
• Railways Communications Systems
• Consoles and Control Rooms
• MCS Test Equipments

The purpose and scope of the MCX Plugtests event are to test independently and jointly all components of the MC communication chain. The test cases are available in ETSI TS 103 564.

This fifth MCX Plugtests event will focus on Over-The-Top (OTT) tests via VPN connections from the vendor labs, following the approach used during the pre-test stages in previous MCX Plugtests events and in the remote MCX#3 Plugtests event.

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?

• Vendors which develop and produce above mentioned equipment.
• Observers, which can be government organisations, mobile network operators, public safety operators, users, agencies or regulators. Observers are welcome to help define the scope (i.e. functionality to be tested) for this event and to evaluate the tests statistics in the TRT (Test Reporting Tool). New Observers have to sign the Rules of Engagement and NDA of the MCX Plugtests Programme. 

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF ATTENDING THE 5TH MCX PLUGTESTS EVENT?

• To assess the level of interoperability of your implementations
• To validate your understanding of the standards
• To test with (many) other real implementations and demonstrate end-to-end interoperability
• To debug your implementation: early bug fixing, saving time and costs
• To promote the technology and the ecosystem.

PLUGTESTS OBSERVER PROGRAM

The focus of the observer program will be to examine the challenges of the Mission Critical Services deployment.

The observer program will provide the platform to the various stake holders in Mission critical community to discuss the progress of Broadband and Mission Critical services deployment. The observer program will be done remotely via GoToMeeting.