Carriers are under a great deal of pressure to generate more revenue, to become more profitable quickly and to differentiate themselves from their competitors.
In the PSTN world, revenue traditionally has been delivered by access and transport services, while profit has been delivered by value-added or enhanced services. Just as value-added services, such as voice mail and Caller ID, are important and profitable in the old network, they will be increasingly important to profitability in the new IP-based next generation network (NGN).
This NGN environment enables innovation as never before, another cornerstone of profitability.
A new network infrastructure is being designed to support optimally the transport of IP traffic and the deployment of enhanced voice services and applications.
The diagram "Applications & Services Infrastructure" shows the two parts to this architecture: Access and transport infrastructure; and Applications and enhanced services infrastructure.
Softswitches and media gateways form the foundation of the access and transport infrastructure. Application servers and media servers form the core of the emerging application and enhanced services infrastructure within next generation networks.
This new applications and services infrastructure powers new types of applications that will become key profit centers for service providers. This article addresses two burning questions the service providers face: "How can I use this new infrastructure to drive service innovation?" and "What types of new value-added services should I deploy on this new network to drive profitability?"
The "Evolution of IP Services" diagram on page 36 shows the evolution of IP services from basic access and transport oriented services, to IP versions of existing PSTN-based enhanced services, and then on to more advanced IP enhanced services.
The first group of services shown are access and transport services provided by softswitches and media gateways. The second group includes examples of enhanced services powered by application servers and media servers. This latter group is divided into two categories: PSTN replacement services and IP enhanced services.
The first step in IP enhanced service deployment for next generation network providers is to deliver PSTN replacement services such as voice mail, conferencing, messaging and IVR in their IP network. A media gateway sometimes is required, for networks that are not yet all IP, to interface with the PSTN for voice services such as audio conferencing and voice portals.
The next step is to deploy native IP enhanced services such as those shown in Figure 2. In this type of IP environment, it is easier to combine web content with a real-time, interactive communications experience. This is creating new types of converged services that go beyond the PSTN replacement services listed above.
Examples include IP-based voice portals, a teen chat line that incorporates streaming web audio and a company conference call that streams the live CNN news feed.
These converged services mix and match all types of media in real-time from a single, integrated network platform. Instead of accessing independent services, one can invoke a voice experience one minute, launch an integrated video service the next and combine streaming web content together with streaming audio.
For example, an IP-based audio conference instantly can be launched from a presence-enabled, instant messaging application. The signaling and integration required to launch these true multimedia services can be created rapidly and easily on a properly constructed IP network.
IP-enhanced services enable communications to be more relevant, to be where you want them, when you want them and with whom you want them. These services give subscribers multiple ways to connect, to ubiquitously manage communications and to enhance communications with content. The ability to do this in real-time is uniquely possible in IP.
The use of open protocols and programming languages such as SIP, XML, HTML and VXML is spurring the development of innovative new services. The NGN architecture's flexible framework opens the service creation door to a much wider pool of application developers than exist for the PSTN. This allows for creativity and rapid innovation without the known barriers to service deployment experienced in the PSTN, such as high entry fees, long development cycles and proprietary standards.
The new network infrastructure establishes a development-friendly service creation environment and enables service providers to manage service deployments more efficiently. IP networks reduce facilities and operational expenses because IP-based technologies cost less than old technologies to accomplish equivalent functions. They reduce operational expenses because there are fewer platforms to manage, and they are easier to rollout. It is easier to maintain one network that runs both voice and data, so operational expenses are reduced.
IP frees network planning from geographical limitations inherent in expensive TDM technology. Service providers can deploy several centralized service points of presence (PoPs) to serve an entire country, instead of tens or hundreds of service PoPs placed all around the country as required in the PSTN.
Moreover, services are not tied to where they connect to the IP network, which allows a service such as voice mail to be offered to a large subscriber base from a central data center, vs. requiring connection points in each of many local central offices.
Recent studies show IP networks reduce operating expenses in areas such as rent, labor, maintenance fees, and provisioning activities. IP networks power choice and competition, which reduces vendor lock-in, resulting in better products at lower prices. Service provider infrastructure expenses often are reduced by a factor of two or more.
Service integration, one of the biggest costs in the legacy PSTN, also is reduced significantly. About 70 percent to 80 percent of service provider expenses are not incurred in creating services but in integrating them into the network and marketing and selling them. IP saves service providers money in direct marketing, sales training, service integration, service creation and deployment.
Applications & Services Infrastructure Chart
Source: Snowshore Networks (www.snowshore.com)
Service-Ready IP Networks
Service providers must build the proper type of IP infrastructure to take advantage of the benefits that IP enhanced services have to offer.
A well-engineered next-generation network decouples the access and transport infrastructure (softswitches and gateways) from the applications and services infrastructure (application servers and media servers). The separation of the transport infrastructure from the services infrastructure allows for architectural efficiencies and flexibility that are not possible in the PSTN.
It also eliminates the worry of taking down the network when adding or modifying services, as is often the case in the PSTN model.
This service creation infrastructure includes an application server, which contains the service logic, and a media server for real-time media processing and content access.
The application server contains personalized databases and user profiles. It knows how to handle subscribers' calls and how to tie in to the billing system. Application servers make it much easier and cheaper for applications developers to develop and rapidly deploy and modify services.
The ability to leverage open, best-in-class components, like application servers and media servers, enables choice and choice powers innovation.
An IP-optimized, carrier class media server provides the integrated real-time media processing and bearer channel stream processing necessary to launch IP enhanced services. Enabling applications to blend real-time interactive media and web content seamlessly is one thing the media server does particularly well. By ensuring full-featured media processing, with the lowest possible latency, the media server guarantees optimum service delivery to end users at the best-price points.
This ubiquitous network-based resource can be shared by multiple applications, and it meets the scale and reliability requirements of world-class service providers.
If built properly, service providers can deploy services once and then offer them across their heterogeneous access networks to dispersed subscriber groups, or to the same subscriber as they roam throughout the network from place to place.
Next-generation networks enable applications to be created and deployed more rapidly, managed more cost- effectively and shared among users more efficiently. IP networks offer a more cost-effective and flexible way of deploying existing and new services than ever before possible.
IP enhanced services are the key to carrier profitability. They enable service providers to acquire and retain more profitable customers through the deployment of innovative new services. This is the true promise of IP -- the ability to provide enhanced communications services that are not possible in legacy networks because they are either too expensive or too difficult to implement.
This high level of innovation, along with the considerable capital and operational savings, will go a long way towards boosting service provider profitability.
Joel Hughes is CEO of SnowShore Networks. He can be reached at (978) 367-8400 or jhughes@snowshore.com.
Source: Snowshore Networks (www.snowshore.com)
