Object Oriented Software Technologies in Telecommunications

One way of achieving programmability of telecommunication networks is by introducing a middleware that hides the technology specifics of the communication equipment from the applications that use it. As the name suggests, middleware sits in the 'middle' between the operating system and the applications. It encapsulates a number of functions that are not part of the operating system, but that are common to many applications, like sending messages from one component to another. These middleware platforms were based on state-of-the-art information technologies. In the first half of the nineties these were distributed object technologies, whereas in the second half, machine independent code and mobile agent technologies gained considerable momentum. Now, at the turn of the century, integrated middleware solutions based on both distributed objects and mobile agents are considered as the best basis for realizing flexible open service platforms. As middleware typically provides only lower level generic functionalities, another prerequisite for achieving the rapid and efficient provision of telecommunication services in the above-mentioned context are open service architectures, which provide frameworks for the definition, combination and use of both generic and specific low to high level service components.

The first combined middleware and open service architecture in the context of telecommunications represents the Intelligent Network (IN), which was defined in the middle of the eighties. The IN provides a network and service independent architecture, which is primarily based on the incorporation of state-of-the-art information technology into the telecommunications world. Whereas the traditional centralized IN architectures are based on the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) paradigm, and the availability of common channel signaling networks in the seventies, today distributed IN architectures have become possible through the application of distributed object technologies and mobile agent technologies.

Based on these considerations, this book is organized into three main parts, with each part comprising several chapters.

Part I: The need for Advanced Software Technologies in Telecommunication Networks describes the changing face of the telecommunications environment, driven by regulatory, market and technological issues. In particular, the need for network programmability will be motivated, leading to the need of advanced telecommunications middleware platforms based on state-of-the-art software technologies.

Part II: Enabling Software Technologies provides a tutorial type introduction to the emerging software technologies, comprising object-oriented design methodologies, distributed object technologies, machine independent code and intelligent and mobile agent technologies.

Part III: Case study: Distributed Intelligent Broadband Networks illustrates the impacts of the previously outlined software technologies on the evolution of Intelligent Networks. Starting from the given limitations of the traditional IN concept and architecture, this part outlines the main evolution path towards a distributed IN for broadband networks, and provides a detailed overview of the broadband IN architecture based fundamentally on the application of both distributed object and mobile agent technologies in an integrated manner.

This book is a common product of a large group of authors working in several European countries within the international project MARINE (Mobile Agent Environments in Intelligent Networks), which was sponsored by the European Union as part of the ACTS (Advanced Communication Technologies and Services) research program. This project was a unique opportunity for a group of scientists and developers from several industrial companies and research institutions to analyze the potentialities of emerging software technologies in the context of next generation Intelligent Broadband Network implementation in significant detail.

The result, documented in this book, is on the one hand a tutorial on the state-of-the-art software technologies of major relevance for next generation telecommunications (this is the theory). On the other hand, the book provides a consistent set of architecture definitions, service descriptions, and interface and protocol specifications based on these software technologies, which have proven their practical viability through a prototype implementation and a trial at the end of the project involving real users. We hope that readers will follow this journey from theory to practice and enjoy the reading.