A Converged Intelligent Network Concept Joined Future for Telecommunications and the Internet
Natalia Kryvinska, Harmen R. van As · 2001
This paper describes our vision on the future of Intelligent Networks (IN) in a packed-based world. IN becomes a converged network that operates at the service control layer of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and the Internet as well. The paper gives a brief overview on services that can be recognized as converged. It then describes the role of the service control layer in a Converged IN. We further show place and functions of the Service Control Point (SCP) as an integrated device in a converged network. The converged infrastructure allows users of different access networks to get the same services. The PSTN/Internet interworking (PINT) protocol and the Service in the PSTN/IN Requesting InTernet Service (SPIRITS) protocol are used in that structure for converged services support. The creation of an unified service content and call control model allows to use the converged IN as a single platform for telephony, multimedia, and data-oriented services. In this paper, we try to present future steps towards the creation of that model. The proposal of a hierarchy of network intelligence is one of the steps towards that goal.