SMDA Monthly Update – March 2019

Dear SMDA Scheme Members

This is our third monthly update, which provides an overview of the latest scheme news and activities. If there is anything additional you would like to see in future updates then please do let us know.

Path to Partial Assurance – Progress Update

 In our February update we highlighted that whilst we were on track against the testing plan we were still encountering interchangeability issues, and that an interchangeability session with the DCC and Early Mover Model (EMM) manufacturers had been arranged for the second week of March with the aim of resolving these issues.  I am pleased to say that this session was very beneficial and that the root cause of most of the issues were identified. We have subsequently been working on completing all final interchangeability and interoperability tests that fall within the proposed initial Partial Assurance baseline (Credit functionality in the Central and Southern Regions) for all EMM devices, and continue to support manufacturers to resolve outstanding issues.

In accordance with the testing plan, this testing phase is now almost complete and a full review and analysis session (including consideration of defects and observations) will be undertaken by the Test House and Scheme Operator on 4th April. Following this review, a draft paper will be issued to the SMDA Management Panel in w/c 8th April with the outputs from this analysis and the resulting final proposals for this initial Partial Assurance.

Test House News

 We wrote out to all Members in mid-March to announce the news that the SMDA Test House, NMi, has officially rescinded its termination notice. This is good news for the scheme as we now have a stable pathway for testing. We hope that this news will provide confidence to those that have previously been uncertain about submitting their devices for testing, and would encourage those with devices not yet submitted to request a quote for device testing by contacting smdalab@nmi.nl.

 Other Activity 

• Website: Changes to the SMDA Website have now been made live. The changes aim to make information more accessible and useful to site users, and we hope you find them beneficial.  We wrote to all members earlier this month informing them that as part of this update users’ log in details had to be reset, and advising on how to change your password. If you have any difficulties accessing the website then please do let us know.
• Consultations: Following the response issued by the DCC in February to its consultation on Communications Hubs Firmware Management, SMDA provided a further response reiterating our position that the DCC should make use of the SMDA Scheme to independently verify Communications Hubs operations. This is to ensure they do not introduce interoperability or interchangeability issues, and to potentially reduce the overall cost to industry of testing. We hope to continue dialogue with the DCC on this matter.

Recent and Forthcoming Meetings

• The SMDA Co Board met on 4^th March
• An Interchangeability Session with EMM Manufacturers and the DCC was held at the TEF lab on 12^th March
• The SMDA Management Panel will next meet on 25^th April

Please contact smdaso@gemserv.com if you have any questions on the information in this update, otherwise we will issue the next update at end April.

Best Wishes

Catherine Cousins, Interim Head of SMDA Scheme