Benjamin,
<< re: "completed" UMTS Release 99 - >>
Thanks as always for your diligent efforts in standards tracking in both 3GPP & 3GPP2.
As I have stated before, I do not always agree with your editorial comments, but appreciate your efforts nonetheless.
If you don't mind (or even if you do) I would like to comment on the formal usage of the term "complete" in relationship to 3GPP standards releases, and attempt to answer the questions you pose even though I intuit that you intended them to be rhetorical.
In 3GPP the word "complete" is synonymous with "frozen".
In 3GPP a standards release is a "set" of specifications, and a release (as opposed to a specification) is "complete" when the complete set is "frozen".
3GPP 3G Release 1999 (R'99') contains about 300 specifications.
When a specification (or a release) is "frozen" it is subject to "change control" and from that date forward revisions are only allowed in the case where a correction (or clarification) is needed (i.e. new features are no longer added) and the majority of these revisions process as Change Requests (CRs).
At some point in time a major version of a specification is "closed" which means it still published; however no changes to the major version of the specification are possible anymore (not even essential corrections).
In 3GPP Revisions occur "in parallel" so 3G R'99' is developing "in parallel" with GSM-EDGE R'99' as well as 'R4" for both 3G and GSM-EDGE.
R'5' has also been started as well as R'6' although the functionality of R'6' has yet to be developed.
The 3GPP holds plenaries every three months, while the working groups meet on a more frequent basis.
All specifications from all "active" releases are updated shortly after the conclusion of each quarterly plenary in the month following the plenary and are available for public as well as internal viewing at that time.
Putting this whole process of committee-based mobile wireless standards development in historical perspective it should be noted that GSM networks attempted to launch in 1991 even though the GSM Phase 1 standard was not "completed" or "frozen".
GSM Phase 1 was completed and frozen in 1992 the same year that commercial launches took place. CR's continued to process for Phase 1 and Phase 1 did not "close" until sometime after GSM Phase 2 standards were "closed" or "frozen" in 1995. The first Phase 2 networks launched in 1994 and the first US GSM network (Sprint Spectrum) launched with Phase 2 in November of 1995.
The key point I would like to make is that once a standards revision reaches a forward compatible baseline the processing of CRs does not deter commercial deployment, and in the case of Qualcomm deter revenue flow from IPR royalties.
<< When will Release 99 be "complete"? >>
R'99' was "completed" and "frozen" in March 2000.
R'99' March 2000 was published in April the same month that 3GPP2 "completed" cdma2000 Revision A. Both "completed" standards were officially accepted by the ITU as IMT-2000 standards on May 8, 2000.
At the current time, the latest "complete" set of 3GPP 3G specifications is Release 4 (R'4'). R'4' specification were "frozen" in March 2001. Every R'99' specification and CR is shadowed in R'99' along with new R'4' functionality.
<< When will Release 5 be "complete"? >>
It is anticipated that R'5' will be frozen in March 2002. Until it is frozen,'R5" does not form a complete set of specifications.
New features not ready in time for 3GPP 'R5" will be included in the following release, R'6'
<< When will HSDPA be commercial? >>
About the same time as 1xEV-DV.
It does depend somewhat on whether or not the HSDPA extension of WCDMA completes with R'5'.
It probably will but it will also probably include some "square bracket values" (fill in the blank later) items.
If it completes on the target, realistically commercial implementations will begin in late 2004 with trials commencing late 2003.
<< When will HSDPA be commercial? .... This decade? >>
It should be working VERY well by then <g>.
<< Nokia, in its recent PR praising the completion of Release 99, must have been misinformed. >>
Nokia is hardly misinformed, and I think that PR should be commented on here because of the positive implications it potentially holds for Qualcomm investors.
Nokia issued two Press Releases in 2001 that touched on the topic of Release 99, and both should be of interest to Qualcomm investors since it potentially sets up a Qualcomm revenue stream from Nokia, Ericsson, Sony Ericsson, Siemens, NEC et al, in CY 2002 and possibly even in the last quarter of Qualcomm FY 2002.
The second is more significant (and as it turns out more accurate) than the first.
In addition the second release is significant in that it is, to the best of my knowledge the first Nokia Press Release that specifically mentions the availability of dual-mode Nokia WCDMA/GSM terminals, and it was published at a time that NEC and Sony Ericsson were publicly committing to similar timetables (for the identical reasons).
The first press release was made by Nokia on April 05, 2001 in parallel with a similar press release from 3GPP. It nicely documents in laymen's language the development of R'99' from Plenary 6 (December 1999) forward.
Terminology shifts from "complete" to "baseline" ("Nokia welcomes the finalization of the 3GPP WCDMA standards baseline"), a term commonly used by 3GPP2.
It also and points out that "the December 2000 version of the standard is the one that Nokia and its test-terminal partners will use as a basis for testing network and terminal equipment during this year. ... enabling the start of development of hardware components and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for the terminals and base stations."
"During 2000, the protocols controlling the use of the WCDMA air interface were refined and streamlined, resulting in the first functioning version of the Release 1999 WCDMA standard in December 2000."
It goes on to say that "as decided by 3GPP in Palm Springs, the Release 1999 March 2001 version will be the first future-compatible standard providing full WCDMA functionality. Assuming that future compatibility can be confirmed, Nokia commercial network equipment from October 2001 onwards will be based on this Release 1999 March 2001 version,"
"Net Imperative" provided another perspective on the R'99' March 2000 version:
>> Final 3G Standard Agreed
Net Inperative
Mark Mayne
06 April 2001 08:00:00 GMT
The final version of WCDMA, the accepted European 3G network standard, has been agreed by a 3GPP (3G Partnership Project) meeting. This standard is future compatible, and will be the de facto UMTS rollout standard for European operators.
A spokesperson for Nokia Networks, 3G supplier to Orange, Hutchison and One2One, said: “This is the first end-to-end 3G standard – previously there were open areas not defined by the standard, which forced companies to write proprietary solutions.”
The first functioning version of Release 1999 WCDMA standard made it out in December 2000, but according to Nokia Networks this will only be used to develop equipment internally. This is due to the fact that the December release is not future or backwards compatible.
Although the 3GPP holds full meetings every three months (the next is due in June) - therefore adjusting the standard regularly - standards beyond the December issue will be upgradable through software rather than hardware. This allows operators to upgrade more easily.
A spokesperson for Nokia Networks said: “We will be delivering hardware based on this standard by second half 2001, ramping up during the beginning of 2002." <<
In actuality, however, complete future compatibility was not achieved in the R'99' March 2000 version but rather it was achieved in the June 2001 version from Plenary 12, which sets up the second press release.
As Denis Fauconnier of Lucent (TSG-RAN WG2 Chairman) explained at the June 2001 combined 3GPP TSG plenary " for a real, functioning network, you would need the June version of the specifications (the March version would work if the various topics on which CRs were provided on the slide "RRC CRs per function/category" would not be necessary)."
It should be noted that 24 months from a "complete" Release is the 3GPP target for commercially delivering gear and launching commercially with terminals which means that ideally WCDMA commercial launches (with terminals) should have taken place this quarter. Software version upgrades typically take place within 12 months if warranted.
By fall of 2000 it was anticipated that the R'99' December 2000 version would achieve both forward and backward (evolved GSM-EDGE) compatibility and as noted it did not.
For this reason statements were made in late 2000 by Nokia, Ericsson, NEC, and Samsung, that production of requisite dual-mode terminals would ramp in H1 02.
Nokia, Ericsson, and NEC are now committing publicly to an H2 02 ramp. It remains to be seen whether all three achieve that objective, but all indicators are positive.
The second 2001 Nokia Press Release dealing with R'99' was made on December 17, 2001 and they announced that they had upgraded their network infrastructure and prototype terminal deliverables to the commercial standard level (3GPP 3G R'99' 99 June 2001 version), were targeting network launches in the latter half of 2002 and were now prepared to upgrade (via software) the two dozen customers they have already delivered commercial gear to.
As it relates to standards development (and revenue flow) these are the most pertinent paragraphs of the second press release:
During Spring 2002, the Nokia commercial software release will be further enriched in features to enable network tuning and optimization and, in the second half of 2002, dual-mode WCDMA/GSM network launches in line with Nokia WCDMA/GSM terminal availability.
“3GPP has continued to fine-tune the Release 99 standard after publishing the June 2001 version," says Pertti Lukander, Director, Standards Strategy and Regulation of Nokia Networks. “However, most of the changes since then have been classified as only clarifications not affecting our development, and the few compulsory changes introduced will be promptly included in Nokia commercial software releases and remotely downloaded to customer networks. In practice this means that the June 2001 standard version validated today is fully applicable for commercial launches,” Lukander confirms.
Also as it relates to standards development the statements dovetail with meeting reports from the last two TSG plenaries (#13 & 14).
In the last TSG plenary it was very positive to see Qualcomm fully engaged and participating with Alcatel, Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, Nortel, & T-Mobil in the development of 4 important documents currently under discusasaion that should help the commercial introduction of R'99.
* RP-010925 - Smooth Introduction of Release 99
* RP-010926 - UE capability for commercial deployment
* RP-010927 - Principles for UE Testing and Related Indication from UE
* RP-010928 - [Dealing with] Errors Discovered in the R99
The December 2000 status list of all 3GPP GSM-EDGE and 3G specifications with complete history (including withdrawn specifications for all revisions and versions through December 2000 is here:
ftp://ftp.3gpp.org/specs/2001-12/
[Warning: this is a very large (800+ page) RTF file that takes a while to draw if opened in Word]
If you have read this overly long post and have made it this far, I will ask you here (and in a subsequent post) if you would care to comment for the benefit of all of us on what "complete" means in the vocabulary of 3GPP2 and perhaps you could relate that to cdma2000 Revision A (the IMT-2000 cdma2000 approved cdma standard) that was "completed" in April 2000 but is not yet commercial, and is currently hung on a single forward compatibility issue that is preventing its version 5 publication.
I assume that "complete" in their case means pretty much the same as what it means in 3GPP but working procedures, numbering schemes, and vocabulary all differ between the two partnership projects and I am more familiar with the working procedures of 3GPP2 in no little part because they are in many respects considerably more public.
Best,
- Eric - |
