ECMA , the European association for Standardising Information And Communication Systems, has a long history of producing standards related to the interworking of communications equipment within Private Integrated Services Networks (PISNs). PISN standardisation is undertaken by the various task groups of its technical committee, TC32. Much of their effort is directed towards the definition of the intraPISN signalling system commonly referred to as "QSIG".
The Networking and Signalling Task Groups of ECMA TC32 are
responsible for the definitions of standards for QSIG Basic
Services as well as a wide range of Supplementary Services. All
of theses have been published as European Standards by the
European Telecommunications Standards Institute,
Basic Service is sufficient to set up a simple call rapidly between two users in a private network but it is the implementation of Supplementary Services that makes modern digital networks really attractive. The ability to control and operate PABX features such as Call Diversion across a network and between different manufacturer's' PABXs is what distinguishes these networks from the analogue systems that we have traditionally used.
More than 25 Supplementary Services have already been standardised and these include Call Diversion, Calling Line Identification, Call Intrusion and services to support mobility within a private network. At a world level, both ITUT and ISO/IEC have made extensive use of ECMA's output on PISN signalling. QSIG has been adopted by ISO/IEC JTC1/SC6/WG6 and published in International Standards as the PSS1 signalling system. QSIG information flows have been adopted as the basis for supplementary services in packet based multimedia communications systems (the H.323 suite of Recommendations from ITU-T). See our page on this . Attention is now turning towards the role of QSIG in the IP world.
Once Standards have been developed, formal test specifications are needed to allow manufacturers to demonstrate compliance with the standards (conformance testing) and interoperability with other equipment manufacturered to meet the same Standards (interoperability testing). Click for information on Test Specifications for QSIG .
PQM Consultants has been directly involved in the development of many QSIG services and Standards and has been responsible for the programme of aligning European QSIG standards with ISO's world wide equivalents.
Click for Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about QSIG.
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