scope:

This European Telecommunication Standard (ETS) specifies the Programmable Communication Interface (PCI) for interactive services, i.e. for file transfer services over Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN). In particular it defines the access to and administration of the file transfer services:

- File Transfer, Access and Management (FTAM) simple file transfer as defined in ETS 300 388 [5];

- Eurofile transfer as defined in ETS 300 383 [4].

The simple file transfer teleservice over ISDN was specified in ETS 300 388 [5] in conformance with the international standard FTAM (ISO/IEC 8571, parts 1 to 5 [9]) and the ISO/IEC profile specification AFT11 (see ISO/IEC 10607-3 [10]). The FTAM simple file transfer over ISDN is a subset of FTAM (File Transfer, Access and Management) and is called SimpleFTAM in the present document.

Eurofile is an ISDN teleservice specified in ETS 300 383 [4], in which end-to-end compatibility between terminals is guaranteed and which supports file exchanges between different types of equipment. This teleservice is also called Easyfile.

This ETS completes the work related to the need for a standardized simple file transfer protocol over ISDN by fulfilling the part 3 of the overall project. The outcome of part 1 of this overall project was ETR 074 [8], the outcome of part 2 was ETS 300 383 [4] and ETS 300 388 [5]. This ETS is therefore based upon the documents ETR 074 [8], ETS 300 383 [4] and ETS 300 388 [5].

Additionally the PCI of this ETS was specified according to the philosophy, the general principles and rules of the APPLI/COM interface. APPLI/COM is a PCI which was designed to unify the access and the administration of facsimile group 3, facsimile group 4, teletex, telex, e-mail and file transfer in the masterslave relationship. This ETS establishes therefore an extension of ETS 300 243-1 [3], the APPLI/COM specification, for interactive services, i.e. for file transfer services, defining:

- the services offered at the PCI;

- the information exchanged at the PCI;

- the method how the information are exchanged at the PCI.

The exchange method of this ETS shall be a general mechanism applicable to different types of interactive services. Therefore this ETS shall be used as a framework for future recommendations which addresses other file transfer protocols or interactive services and other networks than ISDN.