Next Generation Network Services: Technologies and Strategies

200 Pages·2002·2.285 MB·English

by  Neill Wilkinson(auth.)

NextGenerationNetworkServices
NeillWilkinson
Copyright q 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
ISBN: 0-471-48667-1
Next Generation Network
Services
Next Generation Network
Services
Technologies and Strategies
Neill Wilkinson
Quortex Consultants Ltd., UK
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Dedications
Idedicatethisbooktomydeceasedparents,IreneandBill,whounfortu-
nately will notseeit published, but supported methroughout mychild-
hoodandthroughto theearlypartofmydegree.Theyalwaystoldme I
would do something valuable andI’d like to think this isit!
I’d also like to dedicate the book to my wife, Catherine, and son,
Thomas, for supporting me in this project. They have both given me
motivationto completethis task.
And finally to my cat Callie who spent many a fond hour on my lap
asleep when I couldn’t sleep because of the work involved in compiling
thebook.
Contents
Preface xi
Part I Technology 1
Introduction 1
1 Circuit Switched Technologies 3
1.1 The evolution ofcircuit switching 3
1.2 Signalling communicating betweenswitching points 10
2 The Transmission Infrastructure 19
2.1 Introduction 19
2.2 Voice Digitisation 20
2.3 PlesiochronousDigital Hierarchy 25
2.4 Synchronous Digital Hierarchy & Synchronous Optical
Networks 27
2.5 Dynamic SynchronousTransfer Mode (DTM) 29
2.6 Wave Division Multiplex 30
3 Intelligent Networks 33
3.1 Introduction 33
3.2 Functional components 35
4 Mobile Networks 41
4.1 Introduction 41
4.2 Mobilenetwork architecture andcomponents 44
4.3 Beyond GSM, the pathto UMTS 48
5 Packet Switched Technologies 53
5.1 Introduction 53
5.2 BasicInternet Protocol 56
viii CONTENTS
5.3 Mobile IP 62
5.4 Transmission Control Protocol 63
5.5 User Datagram Protocol 64
5.6 Multimedia Transport 65
5.7 IPApplication signalling protocols 68
6 Access Technologies 85
6.1 Introduction 85
6.2 Integrated Services Digital access 86
6.3 Digital Subscriber Line 88
6.4 Leased Lines and other fixed line services 91
7 Voice and Data Convergence 93
7.1 Introduction 93
7.2 Asynchronous Transfer Mode 94
8 Representing Information 99
8.1 Introduction 99
8.2 (X)HTML 100
8.3 XML 101
8.4 VoiceXML 105
8.5 SOAP, UDDI and WSDL 106
8.6 IPDR 110
8.7 Call Processing Language(CPL) 111
9 Directories - More Than Just Information Storage 115
9.1 Introduction 115
9.2 Domain NameSystem (DNS) 116
9.3 X.500 andLDAP 118
9.4 The Meta-Directory 119
9.5 Other directory technologies and ideas 119
Part II Services, Architectures and Applications 121
Introduction 121
10 Intelligent Network Services 123
10.1 Introduction 123
10.2 Exampleexisting services andhow they work 124
10.3 Softswitches and applicationservers 126
10.4 The future of IN 128
10.5 Voice based services 135
CONTENTS ix
11 Call Centres 145
11.1 Introduction 145
11.2 Computer Telephony Integration(CTI) 146
11.3 The future for CTI 151
12 Internet Based Services 155
12.1 Introduction -the move to hosted services 155
12.2 Presence 157
12.3 Application Frameworks 159
13 Bringing it all Together - the New Network Architecture 167
13.1 Introduction 167
13.2 The next-generation network architecture 168
13.3 Aservice example 170
Part III Implications 173
Introduction 173
14 Expectation and Realisation 175
14.1 Too much too soon? 175
14.2 Where to now? 176
14.3 Strategies for making it happen 179
14.4 How long and How much? 182
References and Further Reading 187
Glossary 189
Index 193
Preface
The mother of invention
Telecommunications is now the fastest changing part of the ITindustry,
encompassing vast disciplines from distributed systems to real-time
applications.IhavehadthepleasureofbeinginvolvedinwhatIbelieve
isthe most exciting time in its history. Itwasn’t always this way, as tele-
communications started out as a novelty: ‘‘An amazing invention, but who
wouldwanttouseone?’’–USPresidentRutherfordB.Hayesaftermakinga
telephone call from Washington D.C. to Philadelphia. Interestingly
however, in 1879, the first telephone was installed in the White House.
At first it was hardly used, because there weren’t many other phones in
Washington to call [WHITEH].
From the now immortal words ‘Watson, come here!’ Alexander
GrahamBell’shumbletelephone1hasbecomethemostubiquitousdevice
on the planet. Followed swiftly in 1891 by the invention of Almon B.
Strowger’spatentedsystemofautomaticswitching.TheStrowgerswitch
design was so fundamental that it soon became the backbone of the
World’s telecommunicationsnetwork for at least the next 100 years. The
story has it that Mr. Strowger (at the time anundertaker in Kansas City)
wassoincensedbyacompetingundertakergettingbusinessandnothim,
becauseacousinofthecompetitor’sworkedasanoperator.Hedecidedto
removetheneedforoperators!2Fromthefirst99-lineautomaticexchange
installed at La Porte, Indiana, in 1892, the telecommunications industry
hasneverlookedback.TheUKfollowedsuitandin1912thefirstexperi-
mental automatic exchange was installed at Epsom, by the then Auto-
1AlexanderGrahamBellpatentedthetelephone14February1876.
2HowtruethisstoryisIdon’tknow,butIlikeitanyway.
xii PREFACE
maticTelephone ManufacturingCompany(latertobecomePlessey,then
GPTandnow Marconi).The restas they say is history!
The invention of the transistor in the late 1940s also had a profound
effectontelecommunications;theeventualdemiseoftheelectromechani-
calStrowgerexchange,tobereplacedbythecurrentdayStoredProgram
Controller (SPC) exchanges. Over the last 30 years the telecommunica-
tions industry has been gradually improving the SPC exchanges with
more features, better software engineering techniques, and increasing
their capacity with more and more powerful processors. Most recently,
theuseofstandardcomputinghardwareandtheinfluenceoftheInternet
have lead to the so-called next-generation networks. It is these next-
generation networks and the new capabilities and services that this
book isabout.
Motivation for the book
Myaimforthebookwastobringtogetherallthetechnologiesthatatfirst
glanceseemunconnected.Myviewisthatnothingintelecommunications
isunconnected–itisthenatureofthebeast.Oneuniqueeventcanchange
the whole focus of the business. In recent years, that event has been the
globalacceptanceoftheInternetasanacceptableformofremotecommu-
nication(readtelecommunication).Thisdevelopmenthasturnedconven-
tional telecommunications on its head. The bursting of the Internet
marketbubblein2000hasalsocausedarippleacrossthetelecommunica-
tions industries, with what effect, only time will tell. My own belief tells
metherewillbearenaissanceintelecommunications–thephoenixfrom
the ashes if youlike.
Ireadmanytechnicalbooksinmyroleasaconsultant.Ineedtoknow
the answers to questions my clients ask me. My annual book budget is
morethanIwouldliketoadmitandcertainlymorethanmywifewould
likemetospend!SoIwantedtoavoidtheproblemthatIface,byputtinga
referencetogetherthatwouldcoveratareasonablelevelalltheareasthat
influenceandwillinfluencetelecommunicationsservicesandnetworksof
the next generation. What I cannot achieve is a complete reference, nor
wouldthatbeappropriate.Iwouldhavelovedtobeabletoincludeallthe
technical specifications, standards and other references that I refer to in
my day-to-day role. That would have resulted in another Tolstoy and I
wanted the readers to enjoy the book and be happy to follow up the
reference material ifthey wanted or needed to knowmore.
I wanted to stimulate interest and thought in the telecommunications
community about the massive task we are about to undertake. That of
swapping out the whole of our current voice telecommunications
networks from a circuitswitched solution to apacket switched solution.
We are in a golden age of telecommunications, never before has it
WHOSHOULDREADTHISBOOK xiii
movedsoquicklyorchangedsodynamically(Isawatarecentconference
it likened to the US gold rush). We need to seize the opportunity of the
convergence of voice networks and the Internet to deliver exciting and
useful services.
Who should read this book
The smug answer is of course everyone! More realistically, the intended
audience is telecommunications professionals who are working on
current circuit-switched networks and are looking to see how the tech-
nologiestheyareworkingwithwillchangeoverthenextfivetotenyears.
Equally, engineers who are now facing the new data to carry (voice)
shouldfindthisbookausefulreferencetoshowwherethevoicenetworks
havecome from and aregoing,and how thisinfluencestheirrole.
How to read this book
Thebookissplitintothreemainparts:technology,servicesandimplica-
tions,whichtriestosumupwhereitisleading.Ifyouarecomingfroma
data networking background, then you can skip the technology section
pertaining topacketswitchingandIPinthefirstpart ofthebook.Ifyou
are froma telecoms background, then you can probably skip the section
oncircuit-switching techniques in thefirstpart of thebook.
Everyone should find section two on services interesting. The service
examples I use come from a mainly telecommunications service focus;
these arethekind ofservices I amclosestto.
SectionthreeiswhereIattempttoapplysomeperspectivetohowlong
theservicesmaytaketodevelop,howmoneymightbemadefromthese
servicesandwhowillimplementthem,andbestofallwhomightusethem.
Thetopicareaisrepletewithacronyms,soasamechanismtoimprove
readabilityIhaveincludedattheendofthebook,alistofacronymsanda
brief explanation of each. In addition more information about the areas
coveredinthebookisavailableatthewebsitehttp://www.telecomsoap-
box.org.uk. This site contains white papers and urls relating to topics
covered in the book. The author can also be contacted via this web site
forcomments and questions about the book.
And finally I hope you enjoy reading the book as much as I have
enjoyed compiling and writing it. Special thanks go to my publisher for
allowingthebooktobewrittenandshowingfaithinme,andspecifically
SallyMortimoreforgettingitoffthegroundandBirgitGruberforkeeping
itgoing.ThanksalsotoQuortexConsultantsforgivingmeastimulating
environmenttoworkin.Don’tletanyonetellyouwritingabookiseasy!