PDF of this tutorialThe new world of convergence will require multivendor, multiprotocol open networks with software systems as the core of network intelligence. Networks will need to support SS7, IN, IP, ATM, H.323, MGCP, parlay, and session initiation protocol (SIP) and anticipate a host of protocols that have yet to be invented. Functionality must include multimedia call agents, protocol conversion, gatekeepers, applications, billing, costing, customer management, provisioning, e-commerce, fraud control, authentication, security, and network management.
For these next-generation systems to be viable, the browser can be the only interface. All systems must control, manage, and deliver applications and content over existing PSTN infrastructure as well as all new-world multimedia devices, protocols, and languages as they are developed. In addition, everything must be integrated and seamless to the provider and the customer.
In the very near future, all communication services will be e-services. They will be bought, sold, managed, and transacted over the Internet through a variety of protocols, transmission mediums, personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless devices, backbone devices, and vendors. For the converged network to perform in the e-marketplace, only an Internet model is feasible.
