Technology: Millennium Challenges

“Never prophesy, specially about

the future”



–Sam Goldwyn.

T here are far too many uncertainties and complexities for getting any long-range forecast right. I, therefore, took upon looking not towards the

distant future but at more realistic technological aspects, which has attracted the world’s focus and attention. Many

significant technological developments have taken place during the last decade. Taking cue from where we are at this juncture, I have made an attempt to delve upon a few significant technological challenges in the telecommunications industry that the early years of the next millennium will have to solve.

Service Mediation 



Pundits of telephony at times profess the doom of PSTN. The fact. however, is that PSTN is there to stay. What we will surely witness is converged voice/data networks. What is likely to emerge is a technology that will bridge the two disparate networks.

In many aspects, the leading players have tried to bridge the voice and data worlds through SS7 gateways and

protocols such as the Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP). The challenge is to build service-independent transport. Furthermore, future networks will be constructed on diverse technologies. Consequently we should see networks that speak a language of connection (IP sessions, ATM Q.2931, etc.) different from the service language of the user (DTMF, H.323, etc.). Thus Mediation will translate between service languages, meaning the signalling protocols, to create a service between diverse users across diverse infrastructure.

These switch technologies would thus enable brokerage between networks and users for receiving service signals and creating connections. They would read and interpret user service requests and deliver those same services to the user through whatever feature implementation is convenient. Such switches would require scalable media gateways that combine VoIP, circuit-grooming and packet-switching capabilities, and also support the emerging

MGCP.

Optical Internetworking 



As data traffic continues to explode, it will soon become dominant both in
volume and profit. With simultaneous transmissions of data, video, and voice the key consideration would be bandwidth. Although SDH /PDH / SONET have been a major breakthrough for delivering bandwidth in long-haul

networks, they only provide a single channel over fibre. Today, using DWDM it is possible to deliver

dozens of channels over a single fibre, each channel performing at a rate of at the least 2.5 Gbps if not higher.

We will soon see the emergence of optical networks or optical Internet

delivering network traffic at terabit per second. High-speed internetworking

devices and optical networking technologies will provide this foundation. Connecting internetworking devices directly with optical

technologies will enable service providers to deliver data services at dramatically reduced costs. Optical networks are yet another challenge that will change the network landscape of the 21st century.

Unified Messaging



The idea is extremely simple and straightforward–messages: anyway, any time, anywhere. The Unified Messaging challenge still remains primarily because of interoperability issues and the lack of standards. 

Multimedia conversion is the key to a successful deployment of Unified Messaging. Today, text-to-speech engines are pretty common, which allows your mail to be easily retrieved over a phone and the same mail can be delivered using VoIP. The race is on amongst key players to build the technology components to overcome the bottlenecks of interoperability. Clearly, all those operators with legacy mail environments

will soon have to replace their messaging infrastructure as Unified Messaging picks up.  The 3G Wireless Data



At this stage there is ambiguity and doubts regarding the target market, its size, data applications that will drive the market, the focus of carriers on content or solutions and the billing implications of 3G. Experience dictates that the main hurdle to be surmounted is that of shared common standards. 

The ultimate challenge is not which technologies will dominate, but who will be most successful in harnessing those technologies. Thus the flood of applications, new services, and innovative offerings are all linked to the global agreement and compliance on standards. 



A number of compatible technology components are required, in addition to the radio interface, on which so much focus has been placed recently. It is imperative that any 3G technology will, for a significant period of time, have to co-exist with its 2G brethren so that operators can choose to re-use their existing infrastructure assets and expertise. Global availability of 3G services also call for seamless roaming
between networks and handovers as well as between 2G and 3G networks.

A few of the key challenges are summarized here:

• Successful implementation of data services on existing networks. 
• Putting IP billing systems in place. 
• Implementation of easy-to-use
  
  service creation environment and interfaces.

Wireless Connectivity 



Imagine a world where your mobile handset will talk directly to appliances, exchange information and operating instructions. Imagine your handset giving you driving advice as you speed along an unknown territory. Such is the challenge led by the wireless connectivity opportunities. 

The home environment is seen as a major growth area with rapid increase of information appliances and Internet-borne services. The initiative was first taken to lay down the Shared Wireless Access Protocol (SWAP). The basis for future developments will probably be the existing 802.11 standard, although at higher frequencies than the current 2.4 GHz band. 

Wireless connectivity technology allows for the replacement of the many proprietary cables that connect one

device to another with one universal short-range radio link. For instance, Bluetooth radio technology built into both the cellular telephone and the laptop would replace the cumbersome cable used today to interconnect the two

devices. Printers, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), desktops, fax machines, keyboards, joysticks, and virtually any other digital device can be part of the Bluetooth system.  Mobile-Distributed-Connected Technology



The mobile and embedded database market is exploding. Courtesy, the growing demands for laptops, PDAs–and soon–smart phones. The next frontier of challenges in the distributed applications arena would be to exploit mobile technologies as the barriers between computers and intelligent devices blur. It is evident that businesses, economics, and technology are converging to create a new class of applications based on mobile hardware, distributed functionality, data, and new connectivity options. And these Mobile-Distributed-Connected (MDC) applications are set to change the rules.

The crux of the mobile application is architecture and application design: How will the devices be connected? How simple would be the connectivity

options? At what speeds? At what costs? What will the screen look like? How will users interact? How will everything be maintained? What are the security

requirements? 

Most of these applications will deal with custom data supported by applications that deliver tailored information and alerts. The interface will be more important than the form of the storage. If you are an architect facing the challenge of dealing with these new distributed applications, you have to address the four major dimensions of this technological challenge: Development tools, Database, Connectivity, and Platforms. 

Performance Management of Next Generation Networks 



The convergence of voice and data communication in the so-called Convergent
Communications Network (CCN) poses challenges in service performance management, which as a result, will have to undergo fundamental changes both in terms of the policies upon which it is based as well as how operators go about implementing it. In today’s business strategy service and performance management is now regarded as a key survival tool. It is essential not only to add value to customers by providing operators with better information on their networks, but is also highly effective in differentiating against competition. Yet another emerging dimension is the minimum service guarantees, as laid down by the regulator.

Traditionally, performance management has been primarily linked to

fault management systems. However, fault management is not good enough for the requirements of today’s Service Level Agreements (SLAs). For instance, VoIP will require something akin to ATM’s Constant Bit Rate (CBR) guarantees. Performance management systems thus have to stand up to such a challenge of real value to the customer.

As we move ahead, I firmly believe that human progress is inevitable,

that all problems are solvable, and that mankind is forever chipping away at new frontiers.