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Regional ITU Consultation on
Conformance Assessment and
Interoperability
(Quito, Ecuador, 6 July 2010)
WTSA-08 Resolution 76:
the ITU-T approach to Conformity
Assessment and Interoperability
for developing countries
Paolo Rosa
Head, Workshops and Promotion Division
Telecommunication
Standardization
Bureau
Consultation on C&I – Quito, 6 July 2010
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What happens everyday
 Lack of performance and of compliance to
conformity and interoperability
requirements
 Market invaded by counterfeit products
 Legacy, regulatory, contractual and legal
issues
 Developing Countries linked to one vendor
only with poor market competition and
lack of technology neutrality
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Impact on ITU:
Effects
 Erosion of the perceived importance of ITU as the place of
choice to develop the full range of interoperable standards.
Reaction from Developing countries:
 a plea expressed for ITU to help and to assist in achieving
the requested level of conformity to standards and
interoperability among vendors both nationally and
internationally
ITU commitments:
 WTSA-08 Resolution 76: ITU-T not proposing to do anything
that is not already being done by other successful SDOs
including those that are expressing opposition to Res.76
implementation
 WTDC-10 Resolution 47 : supporting and complementing the
Res.76 from the development sector point of view
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The contents
1. the WTSA-08 Res. 76, WTDC-10 Res. 47,
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Councils 09 and 10 highlights
Conformity
Interoperability
ITU-T Study Groups and JCA-CIT
Assistance to Developing Countries
Conclusions
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The WTSA-08 Res. 76
the WTDC-10 Res. 47
Council-09 and -10 decisions
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WTSA-08 Resolution 76
Johannesburg, October 2008
“Studies related to conformance and
interoperability testing, assistance to
developing countries, and a possible
future ITU mark programme”
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Res. 76 Resolves
•
ITU-T Study Groups to develop ITU-T
Recommendations taking into account
conformance and interoperability issues
•
Conformance and Interoperability testing
requirements shall provide for verification of
the parameters defined in ITU-T
Recommendations
•
ITU-T to develop a programme to assist
developing countries in capacity-building,
training opportunities, and in the creation of
regional/sub-regional test facilities
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Conclusions on Res. 76
 The Res. 76: to meet the needs of Developing Countries for
conformance and interoperability
 The conformity as a first step to increase the probability of
interoperability between different manufacturers, vendors, service
providers
 The identification of Labs able to carry out tests according to the ITU-T
Recommendations requirements and training programs
 The voluntary based ITU conformity programme as a demonstration of
conformance to ITU-T Recs and possible creation of an ITU-Mark: the
“ITU inside” concept
 The increased business opportunities and benefits to both suppliers
and customers, positive industry response
 Need of a surveillance strategy/ data base
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TSB studies conducted with…
 Experts and External
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Organizations
IEC, ISO,
Regulators,
Laboratories,
Training institutions
Governments
UNIDO, WTO
Accreditation bodies (ILAC, IAF, BIPM)
Private sector, members and non-members of
ITU
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The TSB Programme
 Conformity assessment: first step to interop, certification and
creation of a conformity database
 ITU facilitator for interoperability events to:
 identify the interoperability problems
 develop Interoperability test suites as needed
 Adopt current international procedures (ISO/IEC - CASCO
toolbox) to limit ITU liability
 Conduct feasibility studies to build capacity to implement good
conformity assessment practices, to improve interoperability
and to establish test centres in developing countries
 Business plan according to the demand
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TSB Director’s Recommendations
endorsed by the Council-09
 Implement conformance assessment and interoperability
events programme, including the creation of a
conformance database instead of an ITU mark
 Creation of human resources capacity building
opportunities
 Assist establishment of test facilities in developing
countries
 Report to next Council on the effective implementation of
the above.
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Council 2010 - views - 1
 Properly assess developing country needs
 Need of a step-by-step approach and a of a
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preliminary business plan
Need of workshops to ascertain needs and
level of demand
Need to work closely with BDT and BR
Willingness of vendors to organize workshops
worldwide and to assist for capacity building
Director of TSB to meet with the CEOs/CTOs
to add components to standards development
work:
 test suites,
 conformance testing, and
 interoperability test events.
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Council 2010 - views - 2
 Concerns analysed one-by-one to demonstrate them
unjustified
 Developing countries could not afford to postpone the ITU-T
programme. Parallel and not subsequent actions.
 Lack of experience in developing countries brings vendors
to:
 deploy proprietary technologies,
 sell standard equipment with additional specific features
 engage in inappropriate or misleading practices regarding the SDoC
 A balanced approach with solid conformity assessment and
interoperability testing capabilities in developing countries
 Establishing conformity and interoperability testing facilities
and test events in developing countries through an
accreditation process would:
 protect the interests of all parties and enable the developing countries
to have access to truly competitive suppliers
 combat no compliant cheap products
 create market openness and liberalization on a win-win basis
 Additional costs incurred by manufacturers would be
compensated by economies of scale in testing,
accreditation and certification
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Concerns from Members
 The database presents both legal and associated financial
liability risks for the ITU and the ICT industry
 A step-by-step approach should be taken in order to take
into account the concerns of the membership as ITU moves
forward in implementing the action lines adopted by Council
2009
 The use of accredited test labs is time consuming and
expensive, delaying users’ access to technology and
slowing global trade
 TSB should first prepare a business plan to establish the
real costs, potential liabilities and measurable benefits to
society before launching the ITU-T Conformity Database
 Test centres in developing countries, according to one
contributor, would lead to confusion in the market place
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Appreciation from Members
 Interoperability is stated in the mission of ITU (PP-06
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Resolution 71 – Strategic Plan)
Res. 76 is clearly intended to assist developing countries
and therefore manufacturers should contribute to its
implementation
There were sufficient examples of problems associated with
interoperability, and on conformance of equipments and
systems, in the documentation submitted to TSB so far
The database would be exceedingly useful for operators and
end users for whom equipment are manufactured.
That users have confidence in the kind of ICT equipment
they buy is more important than how quickly it appears on
the market.
There are ITU-T Recommendations for which conformance
does ensure interoperability among equipment and systems
provided by different manufacturers. For these
Recommendations conformance and interoperability testing
are complementary, and while the ultimate objective is
interoperability, conformance to ITU-T Recommendations is
the first step to enable interoperability.
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Where are the problems? 1
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Where are the problems? 2
 ITU-T's ADSL transceiver standard allowing discretionary
implementation choices
 chipset vendors implementations choosing boundary (or even
beyond boundary) values of DSL training parameters; this aimed
unfairly impair any-to-any interop to gain Customer Premises
Equipment (CPE) marketshare in this early stage
 Poor basic interoperability and sub-optimal performances
between cross-vendor implementations.
 Problems progressively overcome thanks to:
 ITU-T's transceiver standard for new generations of DSL
technologies (e.g. ADSL2/2+ and VDSL2)
 less chipset vendors which made the interop playground narrower,
hence less complicated
 Operators strong demand for interoperability limited, to a certain
extent, unfair implementation practices
 Development of interoperability Test Plans by the Broadband
Forum, in a sense completing the ITU-T standard. These Test
Plans not only deal with functional interoperability but also at the
level of optimal any-to-any performances.
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Where are the problems? 3
 GPON interoperability tests : lack of
interoperabilty in a multivendor
environment due to:
 Misintarpretation of the Standard, for
instance Most Significant Bit of a certain
field inverted with Least Significant Bit
 Too many options allowed by the Standard:
example GPON OMCI (G.984.4), which led
to the production of the "G.984.4
Implementers Guide” defining a sub-set of
mandatory implementations of the OMCI
stack
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Where are the problems? 4
Example in SDH homologation (Gov labs):
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6 Manufacturers – STM 16 Optical Systems
Physical Interfaces
Software & Hardware
107 tests failed: no-conformance and no-interoperability, e.g.:
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BER performance, data exchange and thresholds settings
Protection switching
Alarm monitoring not correctly implemented (threshold etc.) especially for
regenerators and for STM-1, STM-4 and STM-16 levels
AIS (signal loss alarm) actions not implemented
receiver sensitivity versus a BER=10-10 for the ADM16/1 aggregate optical
interface results not compliant with ITU-T G.957 Recommendation;
No conformity to standards for
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Jitter transfer function on PDH tributaries at 140 M bit/s out of Recs.
EOW auxiliary (service)
1+1 protection switching,
absence of error performance monitoring (ITU-T G.821 and/or G.826)
Frame alignment pointer not in common positions (Bytes, Bits)
synchronization/clock problems
….
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Problems?
 Yesterday: limited negative effects
thanks to preliminary type approval /
homologation tests
 Today: Concerns from end users,
improvement of standards as needed
 Tomorrow: Common actions required:
end users, vendors, SDOs, regulators,
int’l and reg’l organizations.
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Next steps:
Regional Consultation Meetings 2010
 Americas – 6 July, 2010 Quito, Ecuador
 Africa – 30-31 July 2010 Nairobi, Kenya
 BDT event 2-4 August 2010 Nairobi, Kenya
on NGN and creation of test labs in Africa
 Asia Pacific – Mid September – (Sydney ?,
Australia)
 http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/worksem/wtsa08/res76/index.html#events
Consultation on C&I – Quito, 6 July 2010
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Contents Consultation meetings
Objectives:
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Continue the discussion to better implement the action lines adopted by Council-09 and the
ITU-T Conformity and Interoperability programme in cooperation with the Development
sector (Res. 76 WTSA and Res. 47 WTDC)
Improve the ITU pilot conformity database as a tool to address needs of developing countries
and contribution to solve main problems
Discussions also based on contributions:
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Why Conformity ad Interoperability ?
Resolution 76 : a short review
The action lines decided by the Council-09
Impact on developing countries: benefits of the ITU C&I Programme, costs of lack of
conformity and/or interoperability
Impact on industry, testing, MRAs, associated costs, time to market
Improvements to the ITU pilot conformity database
Encouraging interoperability testing
Audience
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Industry / Vendors
Governments and Regulators
Operators/service providers/ end users / civil society
Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs)
Laboratories
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WTDC-10 Resolution 47
(Hyderabad 2010)
“Enhancement of knowledge and
effective application of ITU
Recommendations in developing
countries, including conformance
and interoperability testing of
systems manufactured on the
basis of ITU Recommendations”
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WTDC-10 Res.47 –
“resolves” linked to Res. 76
 to assist developing countries in capacity
building / training in collaboration with ITU-T
 to assist TSB in conducting conformance
assessment and interoperability testing
events, preferably in the developing countries
 to collaborate with the Director of TSB to
implement the actions endorsed by the ITU
Council in 2009 on Resolution 76
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2
Conformity
Ability of a product to meet the
requirement(s) of a standard.
A first step to increase the
probability of interoperability
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Transitive properties of C&I
End-users: products interoperability and compliance with technical
requirements (conformity) are the main requests to vendors
Conformity: as one of the necessary but not sufficient conditions to
increase the probability of interoperability
Type approval testing: a way to check products for conformity
Vendors: increase business opportunities showing in an open and
competitive marketplace the “goodness” of products: functionalities,
performance, conformity to standards and interoperability features
A database listing products conform to standards is a tool that helps:
•
vendors to give visibility to their products =>
Business increase
•
end users to find solutions able to satisfy their need
of conform products that are able to offer increased
probability of interoperability
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The ITU C&I Programme:
Testing
 Voluntary basis & free programme open to ITU
members. Non-members may participate on a
case by case basis waiting for public availability
 Testing
 1st , 2nd, 3rd party accredited labs conformity
assessment
 3rd party accredited certifiers (any lab)
 Supplier’s Declaration of Conformity (SDoC)
(ISO/IEC 17050)
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ITU-T Recs &
test suitesCommitted to Connecting the World
Supplier’s
conformity
route
decision
Test results
(ITU-T X.290)
Accredited
(ISO/IEC Guide 65)
Certification body
Evaluation
1st party
Evaluation
Conformity
Certificate issued by
Certification
Body
Supplier’s Conformity
Declaration
(ISO/IEC 17050)
ITU CIP services
Supplier’s
Request to ITU
Implementation
of the ITU Conformity
Test results
(ITU-T X.290)
Test lab
(certification body
responsibility)
Programme
Conformity Assessment / Certification
1st 2nd or 3rd party
accredited lab
(ISO/IEC 17025)
ITU Conformity
Database
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Supplier’s Declaration /
Certification – Risk relationship
RISK
3rd party
High
Medium
Low
?
Simple
Supplier’s
Declaration
Need of 3rd party independent testing
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ITU Conformity Database
 The ITU-T Pilot Conformity Database is a tool permitting
manufacturers and service providers to make a visible
declaration that their equipment conforms to ITU-T
Recommendations. This Database is freely accessible and is
populated on a voluntary and free-of-charge basis.
 Users are advised that the Pilot Database contains only
information on conformity provided to ITU by companies. The
ITU is not in a position to verify the accuracy of the
information received.
 The Pilot database could also list information on standards
developed by organizations qualified for including references
in ITU-T Recommendations under Recommendation A.5
procedures
 Conformity does not imply interoperability. However,
conformance testing would significantly increase the
probability of interoperability of equipment conforming to ITU
standards.
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Databases from others
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IEEE – ICAP Product Conformance Registry
www.ieee-isto.org/icap-program/products
Open Mobile Alliance – Products Listing
www.openmobilealliance.org/Application/ProductListing/products
FCC part 68 - www.fcc.gov/wcb/iatd/part68faqs.pdf “The rules also
provide for the development and maintenance of a publicly accessible
database of approved TE and for labeling TE that have been shown to
comply with the technical criteria. All approved TE are required to be
listed in the database and to be properly labeled”. The Administrative
Council for Terminal Attachments (ACTA), joint sponsorship of the
Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) and the
Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), mandate “for
maintaining a publicly accessible database of all approved TE”
WiMAX Forum Spectrum and Regulatory Database:
www.wimaxforum.org/resources/wimax-forum-spectrum-and-regulatorydatabase
Wi-Fi certified products database:
www.wifi.org/certified_products.php
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The ITU Pilot Conformity Database:
Example
Company
Vendor A
ITU
code
Prod.
Name
Product
category
C-12345
AH-1234
VDSL 2
ITU-T
Recs/Ed.
G.992.2,
G.995, GPON
SDOs
stand.s
IEEE,
IETF,
OIF
Date
01.01.11
SDoC
“.pdf”
Vendor B
Vendor C
Any field
searchable
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DB -hyperlink
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3
Interoperability
Ability of two or more systems or
applications or network management
products and services from different
suppliers to exchange information and
to mutually / fruitfully make use of it
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Interoperability initiatives
www.itu.int/interop
 TSB facilitator and co-organizer, calendar of interoperability
events & partnership with relevant SDOs/forums/consortia
 Possible hot topics:
 IPTV
 G.9960 (Home Networking); HomeGrid Forum
 VDSL; Broadband Forum
 GPON (Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Network)
 G.hn (home grids / networks)
Interested Companies SDOs, Forums, Consortia
to contact TSB (interop@itu.int).
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IPTV Interop event
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ITU-T Interop Event on IPTV,
Geneva, 20-23 July 2010
 Study Groups developed a consistent set of technical
specifications or standards under the umbrella of the
IPTV Global Standards Initiative (IPTV-GSI).
 The first IPTV Interop event will demonstrate the state
of maturity and industry adoption of ITU-T standards for
IPTV, for example: H.701,H.721,H.740, H.750,
H.761,H.762,H.770. Manufacturers of set top boxes,
content servers and other equipment are invited to
showcase their products and test for interoperability
 The event will be held:
 From: Tuesday 20 July to Friday 23 July 2010
 Outline Programme:
20-21 July - Conformity and Interoperability Testing
22-23 July - Showcasing
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Next ITU Interop events
 Singapore – IPTV – September
 Geneva – G.hn ??? - November
 India – IPTV - December
Interested Companies SDOs, Forums, Consortia
to contact TSB (interop@itu.int).
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4
ITU-T Study Groups and
JCA-CIT
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ITU-T Joint Coordination Activity on
Conformity and Interoperability Testing
(JCA-CIT)
 To facilitate information sharing and collaboration with the
participation of ITU-T Study Groups experts and relevant
outside bodies such as ETSI, ISO and OMA.
 Seeking of input with regard to the implementation of tasks
stated in WTSA-08 Resolution 76
 Development of a common understanding of Conformance
vs. Interoperability testing
 Developing a roadmap for the implementation of the four
action lines agreed by the Council-09 and taking into
account a draft action plan developed by TSB (live
document)
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5
Assistance to
Developing Countries:
Capacity Building and
Test Centres
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Capacity building and test centers
 The ITU-T Secretariat (TSB) is implementing implement
proposals on human capacity building in close
collaboration with the ITU-D Secretariat (BDT):
 assign more resources
 hold workshops and tutorials on conformity assessment
and interoperability on the BDT project on International
Telecommunication Testing Center.
 The ITU-T will assist in the establishment of test
facilities in developing countries and in cooperation with
international institutions is planned (UNIDO,
International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation ILAC, International Accreditation Forum - IAF,…)
 A project is in progress to establish a test center in
Tanzania
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6
Conclusions
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What we said
 Resolutions 76(ITU-T) and 47(ITU-D) : the reply to the
needs of Developing Countries
 Conformity to increase probability of interoperability
 Created the voluntary based and free pilot conformity
database to be populated since now
 ITU-T interop events started
 TSB committed to the implementation of the Res. 76
requirements
 Capacity Building activities and creation of test centers
started in cooperation with the BDT
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Useful links
 ITU-T Conformity and Interoperability
www.itu.int/C&I
 ITU-T Conformity : www.itu.int/conformity
 ITU-T Interoperability : www.itu.int/interop
 ITU-T Workshops and Seminars
www.itu.int/ITU-T/worksem/index.html
 ITU-T News www.itu.int/net/ITU-T/info/news.aspx
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Addressing interoperability is one of the very reasons for
founding ITU and for which Experts in ITU-T Study
Groups are engaged in developing
Recommendations and test suites.
There is no point in developing test suites if ITU
does not give some recognition to manufactures
having their equipment tested to ITU-T
Recommendations
TSB is committed to consulting and collaborating with all
the ITU-T membership to ensure the successful
implementation of Resolution 76 as endorsed by the ITU
Council
“It is a long and winding road but
there is no turn back”
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Additional
slides
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International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation
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International Accreditation Forum
ILAC
IAF
APLAC
EA
PAC
IAAC
SADCA
Source ILAC
APLAC
Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation
EA
European cooperation for Accreditation
IAAC
Inter-American Accreditation Cooperation
SADCA Southern African Development Cooperation for Accreditation
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Supplier’s Declaration of
Conformity (ISO 17050-1)
http://www.itu.int/net/ITUT/cdb/Default.aspx
 Product category & Name of product
 ITU-T Recs and standards from Rec. ITU-T
A.5 entities implemented
 Testing in accredited labs or through a 3rd
party certifier
 Acceptance of liability for the Supplier’s
Declaration of Conformity
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