Industry Canada wants work on ITU-T conformance and interoperabil...

to define a program “to grant suppliers of products and services that implement ITU-T recommendations the right to visually display an ITU Mark,” Industry Canada said. The Joint Coordination Activity on Conformance and Interoperability Testing was instrumental in developing the proposal, which in October resulted in a World Telecommunication Standard Assembly resolution, Industry Canada said (CD Oct 31 p10). The coordination activity will “play an important role” in spurring future collaboration, said the document, which proposed extending its work to 2012. The Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group may consider the matter at an April 27 to 29 meeting. Industry Canada suggested the activity group compile information on testing activities and methodologies, and seek ITU member countries’ positions on the WTSA resolution. It also should develop a common understanding of conformance versus interoperability testing, needed requirements in ITU recommendations to accommodate testing, testing methodologies and produce guidance in next generation networks, IPTV, home networking and other areas. The U.S. State Department asked the group to account for certain identity management information in a Jan. 9 3G Americas white paper to develop the ITU-T recommendation. “To protect resources, applications and services, identity providers must determine the required level of assurance in the authentication used for network access and application/service transactions,” the U.S. said, citing the white paper. E-authentication is the process of establishing confidence in user identities electronically presented to an information system, the U.S. said, citing the white paper’s section on NIST special report 800-63. E- authentication is a technical challenge when the process involves remote authentication of individuals over a network for the purpose of electronic government and commerce, the U.S. added. The Liberty Alliance Identity Assurance Framework, based on the NIST special report, addresses the problem of trust level in identity providers through the definition of well-established and certified assurance levels, the U.S. said.