It's a long time since our last newsletter. The reason is quite simple: We typically are too busy working on developing our products and don't find sufficient time to communicate. We promise to improve in the future.

Let's first list each news item with one sentence. The long version can be found towards the end of the newsletter:

* the sysmocom-funded Osmocom open source mobile communications project have released major updates to pretty much all parts of the software stack, details can be found at http://osmocom.org/news/113

* Osmocom binary packages are now available for even more GNU/Linux distributions, including Ubuntu 19.04, 19.10 and Raspbian 10, see https://osmocom.org/news/110 and https://osmocom.org/news/116

* A major sysmocom sysmoNITB software upgrade is available with tons of new features such as GPRS encryption support, MILENAGE authentication, inter-BSC and inter-MSC hand-over, SGs (CSFB from 4G) and many more

* A software + hardware upgrade from sysmoNITB 2G to sysmoNITB 3G5 is available as a special price to our existing customers of sysmNITB 2G

* We announce a new sysmoOCTSIM [1] product, which is an 8-slot SIM (smart card) reader with USB-CCID support and open source firmware. It can be used to build smaller or larger SIM banks, for example together with the sysmoQMOD [2] as modem bank and the osmo-remsim software [3] for interconnection.

* Availability of new cavity duplexer models for the 800 MHz (LTE Band 20) [4], 2100 MHz (LTE Band 1) [5] and 2600 MHz (LTE Band 7) [6]

* Availability of a new cavity filter for S-Band satellite reception (2170-2300 MHz) [7]

* Many older duplexer and filter models are back in stock, including the cavity filter for L-Band satellite reception (1525-1705 MHz)

* Availability of the Osmocom OSHW (Open Source Hardware) products osmo-sfp-breakout [9] and osmo-sfp-experimenter [10], which facilitate the easy use of fiber-optic transceivers in SFP/SFP+ form-factor from lab / DYI projects in non-ethernet-scenarios, such as reference clock distribution over fiber

* Availability of the JTAG-lock-pick tiny v2 [11], which is a low-cost JTAG/SWD adapter similar in size to the venerable Amontect JTAGkey tiny, which is unfortunately no longer available on the market.

* The long-awaited SIMtrace2 card emulation support has been released. SIMtrace2 boards can not only trace SIM card communication, but they can now also behave like a SIM Card and allow to implement remote SIM card applications or to emulate the entire SIM card OS inside the host PC [12].

If you have survived until this point, you will find some more details on some of the above topics further below...

sysmocom sysmoNITB update =========================

We have reworked our sysmoNITB setup to incorporate the latest technology and updates from the Osmocom stack. There are big changes:

* The OsmoNITB software is now split into its components: osmo-msc, osmo-bsc, osmo-hlr, osmo-mgw * The core network components connect via SS7 osmo-stp http://projects.osmocom.org/projects/osmo-stp/wiki

And there are a lot of new features:

* Dynamic TCH/PDCH switching * GPRS encryption support * DTX (Discontinued transmission) support * Milenage Auth/UMTS AKA (for 2G and 3G) * Inter-BSC and Inter-MSC handover * Load-based handover * Circuit switched fall-back through SGs and SMS-over-SGs (for LTE) * Cell Broadcast support * LCLS support * USSD handlers in OsmoHLR * Interop tested OsmoBSC with 3rd party MSCs (using both AoIP and SCCPlite)

* Lots of smaller bug fixes all over the code

* 3G support though Iuh / osmo-hnbgw (voice and data) * Serve 2G and 3G cells from the same MSC (still voice calls between 2G and 3G have issues)

Now, to help you to ease the update, we have different offers:

1: you are doing the update for yourself, we have a small howto for doing that, but we cannot provide you support in it, also you have to migrate the configuration on your own. Price: 0€

2: you are doing the update for yourself, but we are migrating your configs and offer you 2h of remote mail support. Price: 250€

3: you send in your NITB and the BTS and we update and migrate your config incl. 2h of remote mail support. Price: 500€ (+shipping)

4: if you do not have an external NITB or want a new one, we could provide this for an additional 150€

sysmoNITB 2G -> 3G5 upgrade ===========================

... and now for a very special offer:

5: we offer options 3+4 above and on top a nano 3G S8, so that you have both a sysmoNITB 2G and 3G5 starter kit. This offer is only valid for existing sysmoNITB 2G starterkit customers at 2400€.

If you have interest on one of these offers/options, send a request to sales@sysmocom.de stating the name under which you bought the starter kit and which offer you are interested in.

Osmocom News ============

* We have implemented and tested inter-BSC hand-over support in OsmoMSC and inter-MSC hand-over support in OsmoBSC.

* The SGs interface for CSFB (Circuit Switched Fallback from 4G) and SMS-over-SGs has been implemented. Interoperability testing with multiple vendors has been performed successfully.

* A lot of time has been invested in automatic testing of IuCS interface. 3G used to lag behind in terms of automatic test coverage, it no longer does

* Last not least, there is a first software release of osmo-remsim. https://git.osmocom.org/osmo-remsim/ This correspondents a lot with the next news item about the sysmoOCTSIM

sysmoOCTSIM released ====================

The success of sysmocom’s sysmoQMOD board made us think about a reliable, compact and economic solution to serve multiple SIM cards for sysmoQMOD or other targets that work with remote SIM cards.

The sysmoOCTSIM is a carrier board for up to 8 SIM cards in 2FF (Mini-SIM) format. Targeted users are system integrators who use the sysmoOCTSIM to build their own products, such as SIM banks for cellular network quality monitoring or roaming testing. Providing a very low stacking height, sysmoOCTSIM allows to build high-density SIM servers.

Exposing every SIM card directly to the front panel ensures individual cards can be swapped without taking entire banks of cards out of service (like with other products). sysmocom can also offer SIM banks with 96 slots (19" 1U) and 192 slots (19" 2U).

In combination with osmo-remsim (see above), it is possible to build versatile client-server solutions for remote SIM.

Footnotes:

[1] https://www.sysmocom.de/products/lab/sysmooctsim/index.html [2] https://www.sysmocom.de/products/lab/sysmoqmod/index.html [3] https://osmocom.org/projects/osmo-remsim/wiki [4] http://shop.sysmocom.de/products/dx800-kt30 [5] http://shop.sysmocom.de/products/dx2100-kt30 [6] http://shop.sysmocom.de/products/dx2600-kt30 [7] http://shop.sysmocom.de/products/cf2235 [8] http://shop.sysmocom.de/products/filter-rf-l-band [9] http://shop.sysmocom.de/products/sfp-breakout-board-v1-kit [10] http://shop.sysmocom.de/products/sfp-experimenter-board-v2-kit [11] http://shop.sysmocom.de/products/jtag-lock-pick-tiny-2 [12] http://osmocom.org/news/114