European harmonisation of OSI usage and conformance testing services

Abstract

Actual usage of OSI layer standards in products implies choices of options and parameter values, as well as test tools to check conformity of products to protocol specifications. In order to promote usage of OSI standards, and avoid inconsistent implementations, the European Community has established a European-wide harmonisation program in this area. This program includes the definition of OSI functional standards and the setting up of OSI conformance testing services. This paper presents an overview of this harmonisation program.