Evolutionary survivors

All types of service provider networks must maintain a flexible, IP-based foundation to accommodate the industry's unstoppable push toward enhanced services

As the industry prepares to ring in the new millennium, telecommunications service providers find themselves entering not only a new epoch but an entirely new world. The rise of data networks, a trend that began two decades ago, suddenly is becoming an issue of strategic importance for service providers of all stripes - from incumbent local exchange carriers and competitive LECs to wireless carriers, ISPs and even cable operators.

But precisely how the evolution from legacy voice networks to emerging data networks plays out is not quite so clear.

Darwin postulated that only those species that adapt to changes in their environment - those that evolve successfully - can survive and thrive in a world of unceasing competition. And it is so with today's service providers. Success in the next millennium will hinge on each provider's ability to adapt and take advantage of the opportunities presented by today's evolving network landscape. In an age of rapid network evolution, those who identify and seize those opportunities early will have the advantage.

The success of the Internet has been driven by the rapid acceptance of personal communications based on data-centric IP technology - from e-mail and Web-based commerce to voice-over-IP services that dramatically reduce the cost of global voice communications.

However, while the Internet has ushered in the age of packetized data communications for the masses almost overnight, the great irony is that the majority of users still access the Internet via dial-up lines on the public network. Add to this the tremendous investment represented by the circuit-switched public network - a vast infrastructure worth billions of dollars - and it becomes clear that coexistence of legacy circuit-switched voice networks and packet-switched data networks will be the order of the day for some time to come. Maintaining the flexibility to integrate all networks, old and new, will become a precondition to growth in this evolving new world.

The real issue influencing the future success of service providers lies not in the infrastructure but in the services themselves. Indeed, the first modification required to compete in the new world isn't in the network at all - it's in the way service providers think. They will have to shift from a static business model that is infrastructure-driven to a dynamic business model that is subscriber-driven. Service providers will have to deliver a new generation of converged voice and data services to subscribers, accessed via the device of their choice - from wireless and landline telephones to PCs and personal digital assistants (Figure 1).

To realize this new business model, service providers will need next generation enhanced services that satisfy the needs of today's subscribers. These services must bridge the legacy environment (which still represents the last mile of access for the majority of subscribers) with today's emerging IP-based, multimedia networks. To achieve this goal, service providers must establish a flexible, IP-based foundation for enhanced services that integrates and interoperates with the full spectrum of networks, including the public network, wireless telephony networks, corporate data networks, the Internet and virtual private networks. Such a foundation enables service providers to deliver innovative, converged services while preserving their existing infrastructure investments as they evolve toward the pure IP environment of the future.

New-age services

Just what kind of converged applications can we expect in the age of IP enhanced services? And how will these next generation services add value to personal communications - the key to generating new service revenues?

For starters, today's next generation IP enhanced services systems will enable service providers to offer their subscribers something entirely new: a single point of access for all of their communications, in all media, accessible from anywhere, using the device of their choice. The IP enhanced services platform transparently handles all translation across different media and networks, shattering traditional telecommunications boundaries. The flexibility of the IP-based architecture enables this access point to be highly personalized to the needs and usage patterns of individual subscribers.

What will subscribers be able to do once they have logged into this access point? Consider the following examples of next generation IP enhanced services poised to enter the marketplace.

Voice-activated voice e-mail. This application allows subscribers to send e-mail and have inbound e-mails read to them from any telephone device. Here's how it works:

- Through a telephony user interface similar to a voice mail system, users would log on to the service and say the name of the person to whom they want to send an e-mail.

- The enhanced services system would recognize the spoken name from a contact directory using advanced speech recognition technologies and create an e-mail to be sent with the appropriate e-mail address.

- Much like a voice mail application, the user would record a voice message. This voice message is recorded as a sound file that is attached to the e-mail and mailed out to the recipient. The recipient only needs a standard PC with sound capabilities and any e-mail client to hear this message.

- Once the recipient has heard the message on his or her PC and replied back with text, the enhanced services platform would then convert the text to spoken words using text-to-speech technology for the reply to be heard from any telephone.

This application adds a new dimension of freedom and convenience to e-mail communications. Subscribers can maintain a complete e-mail contact directory on the IP services platform, adding new contact names or modifying existing contacts. No longer is e-mail a text-based, PC-centric medium but instead a flexible communications tool that can be accessed from anywhere, at any time.

Unified communications. This IP-based "access point" also can provide subscribers with consolidated, one-stop access to all their messages - voice, fax and e-mail - from multiple telephone lines and e-mail accounts. This greatly simplifies message management, avoiding the need to dial in to multiple mailbox accounts to review messages. This capability is high on the wish list of mobile professionals who want the ability to monitor their work and personal phone messages, corporate and personal e-mails and fax messages from far-flung locations during a single session, using the device of their choice - wireless phone, Web browser or e-mail client.

Internet event alerting. This application satisfies the growing demand for intelligent notification of activities and events on the World Wide Web. Examples include stock prices and trading activity; e-commerce events, such as a sale or auction bid update; or other events, such as a plane arrival or traffic alert. The possibilities are limited only by the range of information available on the Web. An "in-box assistant" on the IP services platform enables each subscriber to create a personal profile, configuring the service with specific event types and notification styles. In this way, the service turns the vast content of the Web into a valuable, personalized information resource.

These are only three examples of next generation IP enhanced services (Figure 2). The flexibility of the IP architecture enables the integration of virtually any medium, including video. Its seamless network integration and interoperability will support the most advanced access devices, including the new generation of visual mobile phones based on the Wireless Application Protocol and even those access devices yet to be envisioned.

New freedom

The value of all these new services can be summed up in one word: freedom. The freedom to perform a variety of communications tasks without concern about what device, network or medium is used. Thefreedom of a single access point for all personal communications, messages and contacts. The freedom to tailor that access point to fit each individual's lifestyle.

Today's next generation IP-based service platforms also offer service providers a new level of freedom. Unlike legacy telecommunications platforms based on 10-year-old technology, IP service platforms are designed around the latest software technology and open industry standards and protocols (Figure 3). A key element of this new architecture is the employment of middleware. This software layer, which resides between the application software and the underlying operating software, acts as the translator, handling network interface and media conversion tasks. Because the middleware is segregated from the rest of the software architecture, it enables service providers to modify platform functionality without a major forklift software revision. The result: faster time-to-market and lower cost for innovative capabilities.

The next generation architecture of IP platforms offers dramatically reduced up-front cost and virtually limitless scalability, with very linear scaling costs (Figure 4). This means that service providers can introduce innovative, converged services in even the smallest markets, without sacrificing profitability. As their subscriber base grows, they can scale their deployment to serve millions of subscribers - rapidly, cost-effectively and without any interruption in service. And while they integrate seamlessly with legacy networks to protect existing investments, these next generation systems offer a clear migration to the pure IP network environment of tomorrow.

As with any emerging market opportunity, success with enhanced services in today's converged network environment depends not simply on technology but on timing. While the next few years undoubtedly will bring rapid change, service providers who take the leap today and build their telephony businesses around advanced IP-based services and platforms will be rewarded in the future.

Those service providers that demonstrate a willingness to embrace new ways of thinking about subscriber services, new business models and new service strategies will be the evolution success stories in a global telecommunications marketplace worth billions. Those that rely on traditional approaches to subscribers and services may find themselves taking their place next to the dinosaur - extinct giants from a past age.