MCX/FRMCS Technology Leader Softil Joins European Rail Trade Association UNIFE

Softil, the world's leading mission-critical communications (MCX) enabler, today announces that it has further strengthened its commitment to the rail communication market by joining the European rail trade association UNIFE.

The Brussels-based organization represents Europe's rail supply industry from rolling stock manufacturers and infrastructure suppliers to system integrators and engineering companies. Softil will now become actively engaged in UNIFE's work on addressing all the common issues of the European and global railway supply industry.

"UNIFE is delighted to have Softil among its members bringing its global technology and expertise in the development of next generation broadband rail communications to the association," says UNIFE Director General, Philippe Citroën. "We look forward to Softil's involvement in the lofty goals of UNIFE."

"Softil has long been involved in enabling the next generation of rail communications systems with blue chip suppliers to the rail industry in many corners of the world," adds Sagi Subocki, Softil's VP Products & Marketing. "We look forward to working with all UNIFE members in the development of the FRMCS technology."

Softil was presented by Subocki to the association's members at the recent UNIFE General Assembly meeting in Paris.

Softil actively participates in the development of international standards and daily work of industry organizations to help defining the next generation MCX communications norms across the spectrum of business activity.

The rail industry is a prime example with the MCX enabler being the first to transition railway communications to mission-critical broadband initially with Hoimyung's train communication system and others including those of RF Comm, Dayeoun and Siemens Mobility.

GSM-R to FRMCS ...

Since the late 1990s, GSM-R has been the de-facto standard for telecommunication services in the rail industry and a key building block within the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS).

With the increased need for more throughput, higher capacity and flexible deployment options, the Worldwide Railway Association UIC, in close cooperation with the European Union Agency for Railway (ERA), has initiated working groups and specification activities to define the successor of the GSM-R radio communication system deployed on rails. This is called the Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS).

Softil fully embraces the development of the FRMCS standard using MCX technology as the fundamental foundation for all train communications from cab radios and terminals to train control, performance and safety analytics and dispatch. Softil recently successfully completed interoperability testing at the 2nd ETSI FRMCS Plugtest attended by 16 vendors and 12 observers from around the world, focusing on testing FRMCS features such as Functional Aliases operation, Multi-talker, MCData, IPCon, and many other FRMCS-driven features.

The key attributes of the next generation FRMCS 5G-based standard are being aligned with the 3GPP architecture and cover support for multiple radio technologies, flexible access management, bearer agnostic service and application support, broadband group voice, video and data communications (MCX), as well as higher reliability, increased performance, flexible smooth migration options and operational benefits compared with the current GSM-R system.

Siemens Mobility Use Case

Softil is in the process of publishing an EBook containing examples of how key industry leaders across all business sectors are adopting its BEEHD MCX technology to quickly develop MCX solutions at minimum development cost. The Siemens Mobility case study has now been published and can be downloaded from https://www.softil.com/category/mcx-case-studies/.

About Softil's BEEHD technology
Softil's BEEHD is a 3GPP MCX Release 16 standard-compliant cross-platform framework (SDK) designed for developers and manufacturers of handheld and ruggedized devices, MCX/LMR gateways, dispatch consoles, recording solutions and train/metro communication equipment. BEEHD technology is also destined for system integrators, MCX application developers and service providers looking to accelerate the development of IP-based mission-critical voice and video over LTE and 5G (MCPTT, MCVideo, MCData) solutions for first responders, utilities, mining, transportation and more. BEEHD offers market-proven interoperability with all major MCX systems deployed around the world.

About Softil
Softil is the leading enabler of IP communications solutions for mission-critical telecommunications products and services. Softil's BEEHD framework (SDK) is the key enabling technology behind a wide range of 3GPP MCX mission-critical communication solutions, devices, and products, as well as rich media applications for Enterprise and IMS/VoLTE. With more than 800 major corporations across the globe as customers, Softil's many technological achievements include the pioneering of Voice and Video over IP, combining its unique expertise in standards-based signaling, multimedia and IMS. Softil's award-winning suite of Protocol Stacks includes IMS, Diameter, SIP, MSRP, and others. Softil enabling technologies ensure simplified development and earliest roll-out of new products to market.