[...]... 10:41:22 AM The Next- Generation Network and IMS 15 the call-control software in the digital telephones switches Unfortunately, such code was proprietary to the switch vendors: the carriers paid handsomely to buy it, and were then locked-in for their pains The solution was for the carriers to get together and design a standardized architecture for value-added voice services called the Intelligent Network (IN)... wanted to move “up the value chain” whether they were offering network- hosted value-added services or integrated solutions to their enterprise customers As the carriers came to terms with the success of the Internet, and the collapse of Broadband ISDN, they attempted their own theorisation of the Internet Not in the spirit of the libertarian open model of the IETF, but more akin to the verticallyintegrated... control information is required to ensure it can be properly put together again at the far end in the right order The significant extra overhead in segmentation and reassembly, plus the overhead of all those ATM headers, is called the ATM cell tax IP people in particular deeply resented ATM for this 3 Seel_AU8035_C001.indd 3 11/2/2006 2:54:49 PM 4 Business Strategies for the Next- Generation Network Data... of the NGN, as the carriers see it, include a well-integrated set of services that their customers will find easy to use, and a billing model that keeps their businesses alive The disadvantage, as their critics see it, is the reappropriation of the Internet by carriers, followed by the fixing-in-concrete of a ten-year roadmap for the global Internet The predictable consequence, they believe, will be the. .. Google came to prominence 5 Paying for services There is no billing infrastructure for the Internet, although there have been a number of attempts to support, for example, micro-payments In the event, the existing credit card infrastructure was adapted by providers of services such as Seel_AU8035_C001.indd 7 11/2/2006 2:55:11 PM 8 Business Strategies for the Next- Generation Network Amazon.com More recently... Lightweight Layer 2 (Ethernet, GFP) OSS Fibre and DWDM optical layer Figure 2.2 The next- generation network architecture Seel_AU8035_C002.indd 17 9/26/2006 10:41:23 AM 18 Business Strategies for the Next- Generation Network digital TV content (downlink) and digital data traffic (two-way) are carried on modulated carrier waves across a broad spectrum within the coaxial cable If you have WiFi, then the same digital... resolved, as we discuss next So while for Broadband ISDN, voice/multimedia was the first problem, for the Internet, it has also been the last (or at least, the most recent) problem Multimedia Sessions on the Internet Layering telephone-type functions onto the existing Internet architecture is a challenge Some of the basics are just not there For example, the Web uses names asymmetrically There are a huge number... of commoditization is in fact the back story Will the next- generation network mark the reimposition of central control from the carriers, damping down the spirit of freedom and creativity that flowered on the back of the unplanned and unanticipated Internet? I address this fundamental issue in the conclusion For additional information and links to relevant resources, go to the Web site associated with... back in the early nineties it was absolutely the next big thing B-ISDN—Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network was the universally regarded architecture for the future multimedia carrier network, the Next- Generation Network of its time, underpinned by a packet technology called Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM; Bannister, Mather, and Coope 2005) Today, ATM is receding into history, but at the time... potential to collapse these disparate network platforms into one standardized network infrastructure onto which many different products and services can be easily layered I next look in some detail at the NGN as conceived by the carriers today, and as defined in the efforts of the global standards bodies working on next- generation network architecture At the coarsest granularity, the NGN is structured . PM Boca Raton New York Auerbach Publications is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Nigel Seel BUSINESS STRATEGIES FOR THE NEXT- GENERATION NETWORK Seel_AU8035_C000.indd. PM xii  Business strategies for next- generation networks are about more than technol- ogy and marketing. I next examine how to choose the right people and the right roles for transformation. About the Author xiii PART I: TECHNOLOGY 1  e Strange Death of Broadband ISDN 3 2  e Next- Generation Network and IMS 13 3  e Next- Generation Network and TV 51 4  e Next- Generation Network