To accelerate Mission Critical Services (MCS) adoption and interoperability, a key enabler to MCS deployment, ETSI is running an innovative MCX PlugtestsTM Programme. Testing sessions will also benefit from the latest ETSI specification, ETSI TS 103 564, on Plugtests scenarios for Mission Critical Services.

Remote activities are complemented by periodic Plugtests events allowing the community to meet and run intensive testing sessions face to face.

The next MCX Plugtests remote event will take place from 21 September to 2 October 2020. This time, testing sessions will include initial railways-oriented capabilities in 3GPP Release-15, a new step towards Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS), standardized by ETSI.

The MCX Plugtests Programme provides a continuous and ubiquitous environment for collaborative testing and validation activities among different organizations. To enhance this series of interoperability events, ETSI has recently setup a remote lab for all MCX Programme participants. The MCX remote lab is a facility offered by ETSI to let MCX Plugtests participants connect with each other for interoperability testing activities. In these critical times, providing a remote solution for vendors to test their equipment is vital.

The Programme leverages the ETSI Hub for Interoperability and Validation (HIVE) to interconnect participants’ labs and allow for multi-party interoperability testing.

The HIVE allows the secure interconnection of remote sites to ETSI and offers seamless access among connected sites and local infrastructure at ETSI. The Hub also supports remote participation to Plugtests on many different technologies and pre‐testing phases on complex Plugtests events.

To know more about the next ETSI MCX Plugtests and remote lab, register to the webinar delivered by Mr. Saurav Arora, ETSI Technical Project Manager, on 14 May, hosted by TCCA.