Page 24 - 3GPP_Highlights_Issue_5_WEB

A LOOK INSIDE

PLANNING THE

GREAT COMEBACK

By Lionel Morand, TSG CT Chair,
Wanshi Chen, TSG RAN Chair, Georg
Mayer, TSG SA Chair

Standardization work in 3GPP relies on This has led to the e-meetings in the working groups running
the effort and dedication contributed by beyond a single week, in order to alleviate the impact of
efficiency losses.
thousands of delegates around the globe, Consequently, the workload for delegates in e-meetings has
through regularly scheduled meetings. greatly increased due to the extra meeting days and other
factors. In addition, the lack of ad-hoc offline sessions or
From the outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020 until June 2022 socializing opportunities can easily magnify the differences even
all face-to-face (F2F) meetings in 3GPP have been replaced by for minor ‘issues’.
e-meetings, to ensure that the work can carry on.
3GPP continues to attract new companies and delegates.
As the pandemic’s menace has receded, we were able to Many new delegates who joined 3GPP during the e-meeting
host the first F2F Technical Specification Group (TSG) plenary era have never had the chance to get in touch with other
meetings in June 2022. These were followed by a RAN1 Working delegates outside the e-mail and conference call settings. As
Group F2F meeting in August 2022. Both meetings were a truly global organization, 3GPP relies on the good exchange
successful and have paved the way for us to plan a gradual among delegates, to not only resolve momentary controversies,
resumption of physical meetings.
but also to allow continuing the overall evolution of mobile
technologies. It is therefore, crucial for 3GPP to gradually resume
F2F vs. Electronic Meetings F2F meetings in light of the improved COVID-19 situation.

F2F meetings are critical to 3GPP’s success. They are typically Meeting Decision Group
held from Monday to Friday in a meeting week, where each day
is fully scheduled. Hundreds or even thousands of delegates Resuming F2F meetings in 3GPP is much more complicated
from the same or multiple groups can meet in a same meeting than it may appear.
venue.
There are still differing post COVID-19 related strategies in
Sessions are usually chaired by the elected leadership and different 3GPP Organizational Partners (OPs) regions. Some are
during such sessions official agreements are made. Because facing meeting hosting restrictions, quarantine requirements,
the 3GPP work is built upon consensus, which also implies vaccination requirements, COVID-19 test requirements, visa
forging compromises, giving enough time for discussion outside application complexity and restrictions on flight availability.
the official sessions has proved to be a successful means for Other regions are more easily accessible.
reaching consensus.
To monitor the COVID-19 related developments and to decide
‘Offline’ discussions can be officially organized or held informally, efficiently whether 3GPP meetings can be held as F2F meetings,
taking place in parallel, before or after the official meeting an ad-hoc meeting decision group was formed by 3GPP’s PCG/
schedule and involving any number of delegates. These OP and moderated by Balazs Bertenyi, a very experienced 3GPP
discussions help to increase mutual understanding among veteran. Regular meetings are scheduled with all OPs, the
delegates, helping to resolve diverging views and to address meeting organizers, 3GPP TSG Chairs and 3GPP WG Chairs.
open issues.
Some may even argue that offline discussions are one of the Meeting Planning: 2022, 2023 and Beyond
main reasons for going back to F2F, as they allow delegates to
come to agreements more informally. Moreover, F2F meetings
provide great opportunities for socializing and friendship, which Discussion in the ad-hoc group facilitated the first F2F meetings
is also an important aspect when it is about working together in in June and August, with both witnessing happy reunions
a community spirit. and celebrations. These F2F meetings also provided precious
learning for the subsequent F2F meetings planned in 2022.
From early 2020, 3GPP has mostly met virtually, making use
of emails and conference calls as the two primary means The first WG F2F meeting, in Toulouse during August, featured
for e-meetings. Considering the participation from multiple two-way remote attendance and three parallel sessions chaired
continents and the need to avoid midnight sessions for by the RAN1 leadership and two parallel offline sessions. The
delegates as much as possible, conference calls have been RAN1 meeting provided a demanding setting, with some
carefully chosen and kept to a typical duration of less than three glitches experienced at the beginning of the meeting, but all
hours. Email discussions are more time zone neutral, considered the meeting was very successful.
All eyes are now on the November 2022 meetings of all 3GPP
but exchanges are then slow and less efficient than the
conference call, especially for technical discussions when WGs, which will also be held in Toulouse. For quite a number of
equations or plots are involved. delegates, it will even be the first ever 3GPP meeting they are
able to attend in person.
|
24 3GP P Highlights n e w slet t er