Infrastructure IX - Next Generation Network (NGN)

The Telecommunication Standardization Sector of International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T) has made recommendations on Next Generation Network (NGN) which is conceived as a concrete implementation of the Global Information Infrastructure (GII). Throughout the years, different study groups have published the results of their researches and developments in this regard.

ITU-T (2004) note that ‘the target of NGN is to ensure that all elements required for interoperability and network capabilities support applications globally across the NGN while maintaining the concept of the separation between transport, services and applications.’

I quote the definition of NGN from ibid (2004, p.2)

‘A packet-based network able to provide telecommunication services and able to make use of multiple broadband, QoS-enabled transport technologies and in which service-related functions are independent from underlying transport related technologies. It enables unfettered access for users to networks and to competing service providers and/or services of their choice. It supports generalized mobility which will allow consistent and ubiquitous provision of services to users.’

Nowadays, there are many different NGN communication operators such as PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) and GSM (Global System for Mobile communications), and they are internetworked by means of gateways. We see the applications of them in the following manner, the communication devices connected to NGN will include analogue telephone sets, fax machines, ISDN sets, cellular mobile phones, GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) terminal devices, SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) terminals, IP phones through PCs (Personal Computers), digital set top boxes, cable modems, etc.

The NGN is characterised by the following fundamental aspects (ITU-T 2004, p3):

Packet-based transfer

Separation of control functions among bearer capabilities, call/session, and application/service

Decoupling of service provision from transport, and provision of open interfaces

Support for a wide range of services, applications and mechanisms based on service building blocks (including real time/streaming/non-real time services and multi-media)

Broadband capabilities with end-to-end QoS and transparency

Interworking with legacy networks via open interfaces

Generalised mobility

Unfettered access by users to different service providers

A variety of identification schemes which can be resolved to IP addresses for the purposes of routing in IP networks

Unified service characteristics for the same service as perceived by the user

Converged services between Fixed and Mobile networks

Independence of service-related functions from underlying transport technologies

Support of multiple last mile technologies

Compliant with all Regulatory requirements,
for example concerning emergency communications and security/privacy, etc.

The aspects have been illustrated the characteristics of NGN. Needless to say, the scopes of ITU-T are very wide and in-depth. But I myself find it the most conclusive aspect of NGN is to generalise mobility, which will allow a consistent provision of services to a user. In other words, the user will be regarded as a unique entity when utilizing different access technologies, regardless of their types (ITU-T 2007, p.3).

I only focus the discussion on Generalised Mobility. In the future, mobility will be offered in a broader sense where users may have the ability to use more access technologies, allowing movement between public wired access points and public wireless access points of various technologies. It actually means that this movement will not necessarily force an interruption of an application in use or a customer service. However, this requires significant evolutions of current network architectures. Enabling more transparent fixed-wireless broadband communications and mobility across various access technologies appears as a major issue (ibid 2004, p.7).

Therefore, the ICT industries are achieving this objective. Gohring (2007) reports that RIM plans to issue a new model of BlackBerry with both cellular and Wi-Fi wireless capabilities as well as Motorola and Nokia were both selling phones with Wi-Fi and cellular aimed at business users last year. This indicates that the developers and manufacturers of mobile devices need to enable their products to be compliant with multiple operators and multiple access capabilities.

References

Gohring N 2007, ‘RIM plans Wi-Fi/cell phone BlackBerry’, Computerworld Hong Kong Daily, posted 28 May 2007, viewed 15 September 2007, <http://www.cw.com.hk/computerworldhk/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=429669>.

ITU 2005, home page, ITU-T’s Definition of NGN, updated 19 December, viewed 13 September 2007, <http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/ngn/definition.html>.

ITU-T 2004, ITU-T Recommendation Y.2001 (12/2004) - General overview of NGN, Series Y: Global Information Infrastructure, Internet Protocol Aspects and Next-Generation Networks, Next Generation Networks – Frameworks and functional architecture models, Geneva, Switzerland.

ITU –T see Telecommunication Standardization Sector of ITU