IN THIS ISSUE:

• Letter From the President
• TC Chair's Notebook
• GMI 2004 Update
• MSF Participates at SUPERCOMM 2004
• MSF Leadership Election Results Announced
• Technical Committee Meeting, July 20-22 in Copenhagen, Denmark
• Contact Us

Well, didn't we have a great meeting! With over 65 MSF members in attendance, we had an incredibly full programme with a very high level of active participation which really demonstrated the energy and commitment that you are all putting into the GMI 2004 programme - writing IA's, planning the global test network, writing test specifications and of course, our work to look beyond GMI 2004 and define the 2005 MSF Technical Programme.

I think it is true to say that the MSF is unique in its planning to deliver not only Architectural Framework and Implementation Agreements in support of commercially viable Next Generation Network solutions, but also a major Global Interoperability Programme in support of proving that the MSF work really is applicable in the real life scenarios that major carriers are intent in investing heavily over the next few years.

Meeting Highlights
For me, I shall remember this meeting for three major achievements. First, our substantial progress in delivering our 2003/4 technical programme with its culmination in our commitment to stage GMI 2004 in October 2004. Secondly, our determination to see the opportunities beyond our immediate commitments and start work on defining a meaningful 2005/6 technical programme. Thirdly, that our work is catching the industry's attention and that this is reflected in a surge in new membership.

It was great to be able to welcome our new members:

• Advanced Fibre Communications (AFC)
• Applied Innovation
• Cable & Wireless
• Ericsson
• Nortel Networks
• Teledata Networks

We hope you will all benefit from your membership of the MSF and that you will be active participants in leading our work programme which is focused on the real challenges facing our industry as we go forward through GMI 2004 and beyond!

GMI 2004
As you all should now know, GMI 2004 will be hosted by four major carriers (BT - Adastral Park; NTT Musashino R&D Centre, Tokyo; Qwest Communication Labs, Dublin, Ohio, KT Technology Lab, Daejeon, South Korea). Scheduled for 4 - 15 October 2004, this event will demonstrate the viability of fully featured carrier grade PSTN voice as one of a number of application on an IP over MPLS core in a multi-vendor environment.

What you may not know, is that we are now well beyond critical mass in terms of participants and that this event has proven so popular that some locations are even "sold out" to general applications. Our GMI 2004 event coordinator, Brian Tolly, is doing a great job in keeping the myriad of tasks on track and with the work of the various MSF working groups, we are very definitely "on schedule" for a successful event. One encouraging statistic from the regular "status reports" worthy of not is that supporting Test Specifications are already 63% complete and we still have 4 months before the event!

That NTT is investigating the possibility of extending the testing within their GMI 2004 host site in Tokyo to include multi-vendor interoperability of IP V6 and video services is but one good example of how the collaborative nature of the MSF are able to help individual members achieve more than they originally envisaged.

A Final Plea!
Do remember that in a forum as diverse as the MSF, good communication is everything. So do please forward this and other information about the MSF to anybody in your company who might benefit from getting more involved in our work. As they say, if you like what we do, tell your friends - if there are things we could do better, tell me!

I look forward to seeing you all in Copenhagen, July 20 -22. Remember, this will be a really important meeting as it will be our last opportunity to meet face to face before GMI 2004!

Roger Ward - MSF President, BT
London, UK

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The Toronto meeting was one of the most technically dynamic meetings the MSF has held since the months before GMI 2002. Not only where there many new contributions and mature documents to discuss, but the interactions with the MPLS and Frame Relay Alliance (MFA), whose meeting was co-located with the MSF meeting, made for a technically rich and varied meeting.

New Participants and New Members
There were several new participants at the Toronto meeting, some from long-time members of the MSF and some from new member companies. The contributions they brought in and their participation during the meeting enriched the session greatly.

Cooperation with MFA
This was the first time the MSF meeting was co-located with another forum. The co-location with the MFA proved valuable in that it afforded the specialists from both organizations to work together on technical issues of common interest. It is expected that the two organizations will meet in a co-located site again in the future. In addition to a joint opening plenary, the two organizations met to discuss the MPLS architecture that is becoming the sub-structure for the MSF VoIP solution and to discuss plans for the upcoming Supercomm 2004 and GMI 2004. An evening session held after the formal meetings had ended was very valuable in terms of bringing the MSF’s requirements for MPLS and the MFA’s possibilities for MPLS into light.

GMI Planning Update
The planning for GMI 2004 has moved to a higher level of activity. As the event approaches, details are being finalized. The hosts are well along in determining the underlying structure for the inter-site connectivity between the sites and the participant sign up period has now ended, though companies interested in participating are encouraged to apply for a slot. The GMI planning group will review each of the applications to find a place within the event. Special emphasis will be placed on admitting companies to the event that bring equipment that is still missing from the mix for the various host sites. As of the writing of this note, 34 slots have been filled by 22 companies.

WG Updates

The Architecture WG and the Protocol and Control WG
These two groups met in common session to work through the comments from straw ballots and to bring newer documents up to straw ballot status. The meeting reviewed 25 contributions and put in many hours of hard work. Members can check on the status of the IAs for GMI 2004 at http://www.msforum.org/private/IA_Table.shtml. A reminder: many of these documents will be going for ballot in the next few months, so be please be ready for the reviews we need your votes and your comments.

The Interoperability WG
The Interoperability WG was very successful at getting the creation of the GMI 2004 test plans underway with approximately 75% of the allocated test scenarios reaching a mature state. A decision was made that the current batch of test plans would be completed, and edited into 5 test plans that would then be straw balloted before the Copenhagen meeting. Any test scenarios not complete by the time the merge into the test plans was done, 21 May, would be placed in a 6th test plan. The deadline for these draft scenarios is the Copenhagen meeting.

Management Advisory
With the Toronto meeting, a new chair took over the running of the management advisory group. The Toronto meeting of the MA was held in conjunction with the TMF IP network management working group and the TMF services over IP working group. The TMF is currently reviewing plans for creating a catalyst program focused on GMI 2004 Scenario 1 and is looking at a long-term project to cooperate with the MSF in creating a management model for the MSF physical architecture. In order to continue the cooperation between the MSF and the TMF, joint interim meetings are being planned for the next several months. As these plans develop, they will be announced on the MSF mailing list. As many MSF member companies are also members of the TMF there is the hope that cooperative work will be successful.

Planning for 2005 and Beyond
While finishing the work necessary for GMI 2004 took precedence in Toronto, the Technical Committee has also begun the process of developing the technical plan for post GMI. A session was held that reviewed member’s suggestions for future technical work items. This critical advanced planning activity will continue during the Copenhagen meeting and should be completed by the Q4 meeting.

In Closing
This was an extremely good meeting with a lot of good work being done. The energy was high and very positive and fills me with confidence for the coming 12 months. As this is my first report as TC chair, I wanted to thank people for their choice and let everyone know that I am available for your comments, questions and issues of any sort anytime.

Avri Doria - MSF Technical Committee Chair, ETRI

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The GMI 2004 event is in full swing! We currently have 34 participants slots filled across our 4 host sites, including 20 members and 2 non-member companies.

Open registration is over though we are still accepting new participants on a space/need availability basis. If you know anyone who still wants to be a part of GMI 2004, have them contact Julianne Fitzpatrick at jfitzpatrick@msforum.org.

June 9th will be the first GMI Planning conference call that is opened to all participants that have submitted their signed NDA's. There are still a few participants that have not returned their NDA's! Please get those submitted to Julianne Fitzpatrick ASAP as we look forward to your participation in the conference calls.

MPLS network design is coming! We will keep you posted as the TC and GMI Planning committee finalize the requirements.

If anyone has any questions, please do not hesitate to contact either Brian Tolly or Julianne Fitzpatrick.

Brian Tolly - GMI Technical Coordinator

GMI 2004 is sponsored by
and .

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MSF will partner with the MPLS and Frame Relay Alliance (MFA) for an Interoperability Demonstration at SUPERCOMM in Chicago IL June 20-24. http://www.mplsforum.org/events/interop_upcoming.shtml.

The MFA's 2004 SUPERDemo will showcase the most advanced service provider applications including voice over IP and video over an MPLS network. Now in its third year, the SUPERDemo has established itself as a must-see event for attendees -- with a live, multi-vendor demonstration of the most advanced network infrastructure technology. Only at SUPERDemo will service providers have the opportunity to see QoS-enabled, scalable Layer 2 and Layer 3 VPNs as well VPLS services running over a resilient multi-vendor MPLS core network built by the world’s leading telecom equipment vendors. The MSF will enable VoIP services and applications over the MPLS network.

In addition to the SUPERDemo, MSF will be represented by Board Member, Mark Carroll (Cisco) at the MPLS: Facilitating New Service Opportunities industry update session on Monday, June 21 at 1:00pm.

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On April 22, MSF announced the results of its leadership elections. All of the newly elected individuals took office on April 30, 2004. Please join us in congratulating the 2004 leadership team.

To contact any member of the leadership, please to the leadership page on the MSF website:

MSF Board of Directors - http://www.msforum.org/about/bod.shtml
MSF Technical Committee and Marketing Leaders -  http://www.msforum.org/about/tcleadership.shtml

MSF Board of Directors (two-year terms)

• Byung-Sun Lee, ETRI
• James McEachern, Nortel Networks
• Tatsuro Murakami, NTT

• Avri Doria, ETRI

MSF Technical Committee Vice Chairperson (one-year term)

• Juliet Bates, Alcatel

MSF Marketing Awareness and Education Committee Chairperson (one-year term)

• Neil Anderson, Spirent Communications

MSF Marketing Awareness and Education Committee Vice Chairperson (one-year term)

• Jason Grooms, Leapstone Systems

MSF Architecture Working Group Chairperson (two-year term)

• Paul Drew, MetaSwitch

MSF Management Advisory Chairperson (interim)

• Brian Down, Marconi

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As announced in Toronto, the next MSF Technical Committee Meeting will be held July 20-22, 2004 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

To register for the meeting, please complete the on-line registration process on the MSF web site under Meetings and Events at http://www.msforum.org/events/upcoming.shtml.

• Pre-registration (Through Tuesday, July 6, 2004): $395 USD
• Late registration (Wednesday, July 7, 2004-Tuesday, July 20, 2004): $545 USD

NOTE: You MUST submit payment information when registering for the meeting in order to secure your registration. To submit payment, click on the "Pay" button after saving your registration record. Meeting registrations cancelled before Tuesday, July 13, 2004 will receive a full refund. After July 13, no refunds will be provided.

Please note the following important deadlines for this meeting:

• Hotel Room Reservations Deadline: Tuesday, July 6, 2004
• Meeting Registration and Contribution Deadline: Tuesday, July 6, 2004

Scandic Hotel Copenhagen
Vester Soegade 6
1601 Copenhagen, Denmark
Reservations Phone: +45 3375 7125
Reservations Fax: +45 3314 3537

MSF Room Rate: DKK 1,095.00 per night for single room (approx. $185 USD). Please quote reference code MUL190704 to secure the MSF Room Rate.

BRING A FRIEND! - Don't forget to invite your friends or colleagues -- anyone who is interested in MSF -- to the upcoming MSF Technical Committee Meeting. If you do bring a guest, we will ask a board member and/or a member of the TC leadership to roll out the welcome wagon and spend some personal time with them to help them understand the benefits of participation. Guests of MSF members can register easily by contacting Cindy Morgan at cmorgan@msforum.org or +1.510-608-5925.

SPONSORS - The MSF is currently seeking sponsors for this meeting. Please contact Alysia Johnson at ajohnson@msforum.org for more information about sponsorship.

Membership participation is the driving force behind MSF's success. Please join us in Copenhagen and continue to support MSF's mission.

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