IP learns lessons from its voice mentor: IP intelligent networking may help ISPs prioritize Internet traffic, support multiple applications-and satisfy customers

Internet protocol's emergence as a traffic carrier for routers, switches, application servers and end user devices is changing the way we communicate.

It has created a new ubiquitous network fabric, and it has co-opted part of the voice network for Internet access.

IP's ubiquitous quality and the Internet's universal reach are attracting innovative narrowband and broadband applications. Early adopters offer video and audio streaming, voice and fax, gaming and other services that the Internet was never designed to carry.

With Qwest and Level 3 sinking huge amounts into services such as voice over IP, IP networks appear destined to be the workhorses of next generation networking. Yet the growing demand for new services is straining vendors' ability to build functions that meet the expectations of users-especially business users.

Conventional wisdom says more bandwidth would make Internet services more business-ready. Gigabit routing, multiprotocol-over-ATM (MPOA) networks and IP over Sonet have made their mark. But bigger pipes are only part of the solution.

Service offerings incorporate everything else from configuration and provisioning to billing. So even though Internet service providers are taking advantage of business' needs to outsource information technology functions, they face major issues in doing so.

No more guarantees Several quality-of-service (QOS) techniques propose to overcome packet networks' shortcomings in delivering time-critical applications. Router vendors and those offering stand-alone boxes are proposing queuing control systems that assign traffic from different sources with different priorities.

Asynchronous transfer mode also is a contender with its emulation of fixed bandwidth links and predictable performance. And protocols such as resource reservation protocol aim to address the issue, as does the idea of separate networks for each priority.

Yet performance control goes beyond connections. Users are interested in not only how they communicate with other end user devices through LAN-to-LAN connections, but in their interactions with network-based applications such as video, Web and voice servers.

It is important that these network-based applications meet high expectations for performance, availability, security and response time as part of a complete service solution. This puts pressure on vendors and service providers to set and measure against service level agreements to make outsourced services more trustworthy.

Then how do we create high-performance networks for business that can take advantage of IP networks, yet meet the stringent demands of information technology managers not ready to bet the farm on outsourced services? Moreover, how do we carve up network-based services as well as the network fabric into secure virtual private networks (VPNs)?

Control goes to the Net Service control introduces a layer of intelligence in the hierarchy between the transport network and application services (Figure 1). It consolidates user knowledge, class of service, and transport and application elements into an intelligent and real-time control process.

Of course, service control points have been used in the voice network for a long time. However, their application in the Internet is new.

While the Internet-with its smarter terminal devices, distributed routing and multimedia traffic-is not totally analogous to the voice network, there are many parallels.

Service providers offering Internet services to businesses must identify service users, control access to the virtual connection or application services, and collect use-based accounting information.

These were common problems in the voice VPN world. With IP intelligent networking, the best Advanced Intelligent Network concepts can be applied successfully to the Internet, providing a more comprehensive and flexible solution for future growth (Figure 2).

Many Internet product solutions focus on transport layer VPN services such as secure tunnels, or on shared network applications such as Web hosting and e-mail. To address administrative problems, several standard database and directory systems also have been created.

Yet few solutions consider the big picture of how the entire service- from connection to application-is created, configured and deployed. IP intelligent networking provides the comprehensive approach, ensuring that ISPs can more efficiently provision, control and bill for customized Internet services on a large-scale basis.

Bridging the islands The IP intelligent network approach provides another benefit to Internet services-interoperation across dissimilar networking boundaries. Centralized intelligence can be used to mate different QOS mechanisms among subnetworks, where one subnetwork may use a queuing mechanism and the other MPOA.

Unless vendors agree on a single solution, service providers may be left to stitch together dissimilar islands of transport technology. IP intelligent networking can pull some intelligence from the switches to help with a gateway function, addressing underlying transport layer differences for a simpler and more effective interoperability solution.

Another example is interaction with the voice world. Despite the hype about the Internet, the voice network is still quietly performing an indispensable function. And it has tried and tested AIN capabilities that can be applied to emerging voice-over-IP services.

Intelligent network and service control solutions that provide sophisticated signaling mechanisms between the AIN and the IP intelligent network will let ISPs use the equipment and applications of each fabric most effectively.

For example, an intelligent network system could decide whether to terminate calls on the voice or the IP network, depending on user preferences and the busy state of a user's phone or PC, thus helping service providers optimize trunk bandwidth and equipment costs. The new IP-based connectivity services offer immense revenue opportunities for service providers around the world.

A future of unknowns Customer control features are another important part of the service solution. Self-registration for a variety of Internet services will become more prevalent and is offered by some ISPs today.

ISPs that leverage self-registration to reduce the time from receiving an order to starting the account will have the competitive edge, especially with residential users. Business users, and more specifically information technology managers, demand the ability to change their outsourced services in real time.

The policy management techniques of IP intelligent networking let service providers tailor business services with essential customer control features.

Also, existing billing approaches need to be overhauled to meet the demands of a much wider range of Internet services. Most ISPs view flat rate as perhaps too simple for business services, but today's use-based billing solutions, such as frame, packet and cell counts, are becoming too costly and complex.

Simpler approximations will emerge, perhaps based on time, application type and QOS. The possibilities for creating new charging models are endless. Throw into the mix the ability to offset costs with click-through advertising, and many billing system vendors will have vast new product opportunities.

IP intelligent network solutions will assign traffic priority levels, as well as collect and consolidate use-based accounting information, giving providers more flexible billing opportunities for a full range of networkwide services.