The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) unveiled Software Development Groups (SDGs) as a way to improve the standardization process through early, collaborative, software-defined testing and validation.

The SDGs will offer various software copyright licenses [such as open source] to provide the industry “with an easy path to link software and standards” through a “neutral venue and a governance model derived from open, transparent standards development.”

Ultan Mulligan, director of ETSI's Center for Testing, explained these groups are tasked with developing software and tools to help "define, prototype, validate, or complement standards” and accelerate standardization processes through “early and frequent” feedback loops within the groups. The collaboration will allow for a higher quality of standards that have been validated upon publishing, which Mulligan said will also encourage a more open ecosystem of developers bringing in “new types of users and contributors through the availability of software and tools.”

Establishing the SDGs will also allow for a more stratified approach to standardization. “From regular standards, which are fundamental building blocks and will always be necessary, through industry specification groups, which offer faster time to market, to the new Software Development Groups, which allow fast prototyping or the development of tools to assist take up of our standards," Mulligan added.

While the development of standards has traditionally always involved software elements, "that approach treats software as a document. It also imposes a consensus or democratic process. However, developing good software requires specific expertise, discipline, tools, and support not normally found in a traditional standards committee," he continued. "Therefore, we have defined a new structure and approach to meet the need for collaboratively developed software to accompany traditional standards.”

The move follows on ETSI and the O-RAN Alliance announcing their first open radio access network (RAN) specifications last year. ETSI’s new SDGs look to equally embrace this telecom shift toward open-source platforms.

“The world of telecom is changing,” Mulligan said. “We live now in a software-defined world; ETSI is adapting and pioneering a software-defined standardization approach.”