Experience within ETSI of the combined roles of conformance testing and interoperability testing

Traditionally, conformance testing has been the domain of the telecommunications industry while interoperability testing has mainly been limited to the Internet world. Many see these as either/or solutions, ignoring the fact that recent experience shows that both approaches have their strengths when used wisely. We look at the growing trend in combining conformance testing with interoperability testing. We discuss the merits and shortcomings of each approach and show one way they can usefully be combined to maximise the effectiveness of the testing process. This is especially relevant where testing is being treated as a potential branding issue by various fora, as is the case for SIP and IPv6 among others. We also present ETSI standardisation activities such as STF 224 (which is developing a generic interoperability testing methodology), the recently created MTS IP Testing group and the work being done by the ETSI Protocol and Testing Competence Centre (PTCC) and the ETSI Plugtests/spl trade/ service.