Michel Louis Francis Grech

Delivering seamless services in open networks using intelligent service mediation

In this era of converged networks, service providers are seeking ways to seamlessly provide a wide spectrum of services and applications that will differentiate them from their competitors and add to their revenue streams. At the same time, new industry initiatives are pushing toward open networks, in which third-party application providers can use application programming interfaces (APIs) such as Parlay, Open Services Architecture (OSA), and Java∗ APIs for Integrated Networks (JAIN∗) to access network services. One challenge for network operators is to attract and engage third-party application providers while protecting the network from harm. We propose using intelligent service mediation to enable operators to open their networks safely through policy management techniques and to reduce the complexity involved in delivering applications developed by third parties over public switched and mobile networks. We also describe an implementation of intelligent service mediation.

The support of mobile Internet applications in UMTS networks through the open service access

Third-generation wireless networks are expected to enable the mobile Internet to become a reality, offering fast Internet access and high-speed data services to mobile subscribers. For network operators to allow for the rapid development of innovative value-added applications on the scale seen in the Internet today, the wireless core network needs to be opened up for third-party applications provided by independent software vendors (ISVs). The Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is currently working on the production of technical specifications to provide a mechanism that would permit ISVs a standard interface to access network capabilities traditionally available to network operators. Within 3GPP, this mechanism is commonly referred to as the open service access (OSA). This open service access is predominantly targeted at Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) networks, allowing application developers to access the feature-rich core network capabilities. This open access enables network operators to offer innovative services to their subscribers allowing the ability to differentiate themselves in a competitive market. With the imminent commercial deployment of the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), existing fixed-line Internet service providers (ISPs) can now offer mobile Internet to end users in a UMTS environment where the responsibility of the network operator is reduced to providing IP connectivity. The increased competition from ISPs poses a big threat to the revenue stream of the network operator. This paper explores the possibilities of OSA to facilitate network operators in providing the mutual support of network capabilities and Internet content. These possibilities would allow the network operator to become a value-added mobile Internet service provider (VAM-ISP).3

The open mobile alliance and trends in supporting the mobile services industry

The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) is the leading industry forum for generating market-driven specifications for interoperable mobile service enablers to facilitate global user adoption of mobile multimedia services. Since its formation in 2002, the OMA has made significant progress in delivering several enablers in areas such as mobile Web services, push-to-talk over cellular, and presence, and it plans to deliver many more enablers in the coming years. This paper discusses the various projects undertaken by the OMA working groups that deal with multiservice networks and offers an early perspective on the mapping and evolution of the OMA enablers that are part of the overall OMA service environment (OSE), which spans all mobile access and core network technologies. The ideas presented in this paper are solely those of the authors; they do not reflect an official OMA point of view.

Service control for next-generation applications in wireless IP multimedia networks

Within the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the thrust of the session initiation protocol (SIP)-based Internet protocol (IP) multimedia subsystem (IMS) is envisaged to allow a swift progression towards the provision of multimedia applications for increasingly demanding end users. The paradigm of service programmability using open network application programming interfaces (APIs), with open service access (OSA) as its main exponent, is helping to drive this development together with the use of SIP. The focal point of this paper will be the multimedia services architecture in the IMS by providing details of the interaction of the IMS and the application servers in the form of the OSA gateway and the SIP application server. The paper aims to assess the value of the IMS service control (ISC) interface on application server interaction in the IMS. The paper will provide an OSA application use case, and will also present the presence server as an example of a SIP application server that fits in with the IMS.

Service mediation standards

The trend in service standardization has moved away from specifying individual services, via the classification of service toolkits, to the concept of defining a service mediation architecture. The prime objective of service mediation is the proliferation of innovative end-user applications by means of network transparency and abstracted network capabilities. This implies requirements alignment and also dependencies and harmonization between various involved standards bodies. This paper addresses the impact of these implications, as well as the latest developments and directions in service mediation standards and why and how these are different from traditional standards with respect to issues like conformance and backwards compatibility. The paper homes in on Parlay and Open Service Access (OSA) in particular and looks at how Parlay/OSA capabilities are evolving and how they relate to the Web Services model. The recent embracing of JAIN∗ and Web Services Definition Language (WSDL) as technology realization of the common Parlay/OSA interface definitions are also discussed.