1

A Seminar Report on

Next Generation Network

Prepared by : Patel Harit A.

Roll No. : 62

Class : B.E.IV (Electronics & Communication Engineering.)

Semester : 8th Semester

Year : 2009-2010

Guided by : Mr. Bhargav Shah

Department
Of
Electronics & Communication Engineering
Sarvajanik College of Engineering & Technology
Dr R.K. Desai Road,
Athwalines, Surat - 395001, India.

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 Sarvajanik College of
Engineering & Technology
Dr R.K. Desai Road,
Athwalines, Surat - 395001,
India.

Department
Of
Electronics & Communication Engineering

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the Seminar report entitled Next
Generation Network is prepared & presented by Mr. Harit A.
Patel Class Roll No 62 of B.E.IV Sem VIII Electronics &
Communication Engineering during year 2009-2010. His work is

satisfactory.

Signature of Guide Head of Department

Electronics Engineering

Signature of Jury Members

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

With this acknowledgement I take this opportunity to thank all those people without
whose support this seminar would not have reached its true destination. My heartiest thanks to
my guide Mr. Bhargav Shah who helped me to reach to the depth of the topic. I would also like
to thank Mr. Pritesh Saxena and Mr. Dhiren Bhagat for their timely advices.

As a final word, I am thankful to the staff members of E&C department, for their help to
the completion of my seminar.

Patel Harit A.

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 ABSTRACT

Traditionally there are multiple networks to provide multiple services to the people all
around the world but the technological advancements in telecommunication is forcing a trend
towards unification of network & services, setting up a stage for the emergence of Next
Generation Network (NGN). NGN is essentially an Internet Protocol (IP) based network that
enables to receive wide range of services such as voice, data and video over the same
network. The service layer in NGN is independent of underlying network and access is
enabled across a wide range of broadband technologies, both wireless such as Wi-Fi
(Wireless Fidelity), WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) and wire
line such as cable, fiber etc. A single IP network replaces the different transport networks.
The key technique for NGN is scalable video coding and Quality of Service (QoS) to adapt to
the various requirements such as quality, spatial and temporal resolution and bandwidth
variation in heterogeneous networks. NGN would employ a meshed core, having embedded
intelligence which would provide scalability, throughput and enhanced revenue generation
by providing optimized connection, service, flexibility and efficient network management
thus providing QoS.

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 INDEX

1. Introduction to NGN............................................................................................................1
2. NGN architecture .................................................................................................................2
2.1 Overview ......................................................................................................................... 2
2.1 Transport functions ......................................................................................................... 2
2.2 Service functions ............................................................................................................. 3
2.3 Management functions .................................................................................................... 4
2.4 End-user functions .......................................................................................................... 4
2.5 IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) ..................................................................................... 4
2.5.1 IMS architecture....................................................................................................... 5
2.5.2 IMS Functional Entities ........................................................................................... 5
3. NGN Protocols ......................................................................................................................8
3.1 H.323............................................................................................................................... 8
3.2 SIP ................................................................................................................................... 9
3.3 MGCP ............................................................................................................................. 9
3.4 H.248............................................................................................................................... 9
3.5 SIGTRAN ..................................................................................................................... 10
3.6 PARLAY/ JAIN ............................................................................................................ 10
4. NGN Services ......................................................................................................................11
4.1 Enhanced internet quality ............................................................................................. 11
4.2 NGN Service Matrix ..................................................................................................... 11
5. Performance measure ........................................................................................................14
5.1 Quality of Service ......................................................................................................... 14
5.1.1 Network Centric Parameters .................................................................................. 14
5.1.3 Customer Centric Parameters ................................................................................ 14
5.1.4 Comparison of different network architectures ..................................................... 15
6. NGN Challenges .................................................................................................................16
Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................17
Acronyms ................................................................................................................................18
References ...............................................................................................................................20

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 List of Figures

Figure 2.1: NGN architecture overview [7] .............................................................................. 2

Figure 2.2: Network partitioning with respect to IMS [7] ........................................................ 5
Figure 2.3: IMS functional entities and reference points [7] .................................................... 6
Figure 3.1: Protocols used in NGN [5] ..................................................................................... 8
Figure 4.1: NGN Service Drivers [6] ...................................................................................... 12

List of Table

Table 5.1: Comparison of different network architectures ..................................................... 15

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 1. Introduction to NGN

The ITU defines a Next Generation Network (NGN) as a packet-based network able
to provide services including telecommunications services and able to make use of multiple
broadband, Quality of Service (QoS) enabled transport technologies and in which service-
related functions are independent from underlying transport-related technologies. It offers
unfettered access by users to different service providers. It supports generalized mobility
which will allow consistent and ubiquitous provision of services to users.

The Next Generation Network concept defines telecommunications network

architectures and technologies. It describes networks that cover conventional Public
Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) type of data and voice communications as well as new
types of service such as video. All information is carried in packet switched form, as is done
in the Internet. Packets are labeled according to their type and forwarded in the network
based on their QoS and security parameters.

The NGN makes a clear separation between the transport and services, which is
advertised to allow smooth introduction of new services. When a provider wants to launch a
new service, the service is defined directly at the service layer without considering the
transport layer, i.e. services are independent of the transport technology.

What is NGN?

 A multi-service Network able to support Voice, Data and Video.

 A network with a control plane separated from the Transport/ Switching plane.
 A network with open interfaces between transport, control and applications.
 A network using packet mode technology to transport of all kind of information.
 A network with guaranteed QoS for different traffic types.

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 2. NGN architecture

2.1 Overview
Due to the separation of transport and services, the NGN functions are divided into
service and transport layers. End user functions are connected to the NGN by the user to
network interface (UNI), while networks are interconnected via the network to network
interface (NNI). The application to network interface (ANI) is defined to allow third party
application implementations. Figure 2.1 illustrates the overview of the NGN functional
architecture.

Figure 2.1: NGN architecture overview [7]

2.1 Transport functions

The transport layer functions provide connectivity for all components and physically
separated functions within an NGN. Internet Protocol (IP) is seen as the most obvious NGN
transport technology and therefore the transport layer will provide IP connectivity for end
user equipment (residing outside an NGN) and various controllers and enablers that are

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usually located in servers within the area of an NGN. The transport layer is further divided
into access and core network.

Access functions, which are access technology dependent, manage the end user access to an
NGN network.

Access transport functions are responsible for carrying information across the access
network. They also offer QoS control mechanisms for NGN

Edge functions are used for traffic processing when access traffic is merged into the core
network.

Core transport functions ensure information transport through the core network. They
provide the means to differentiate the quality of transport by interacting with the transport
control functions.

Network attachment control functions (NACF) provide registration at the access level and
initialization of end user functions to allow access to NGN services. They support network
level identification and authentication, manage the IP address space of the access network,
and authenticate access sessions.

Resource and admission control functions (RACFs) offer admission control and gate
control functionality, such as control of network address and port translation (NAPT) and
management of differentiated services field code points (DSCPs). Admission control
includes, e.g. user profile based checking of authentication and authorization, considering
also operator specific rules and resource availability. Resource availability checking implies
that the admission control function verifies weather a resource request is allowable, as
opposed to resources that are already provisioned or used.

Transport user profile functions comprise the user and other control information that forms
a single “user profile” function in the transport layer. This function may be specified and
implemented as a set of cooperating databases with functionality residing in any part of an
NGN.

Gateway functions support capabilities to interwork with other networks, such as PSTN/
ISDN based networks and the Internet. Interworking with other NGNs, owned and operated
by other administrators, is also included.

Media handling functions supply services, such as tone signal generation, transcoding and
conference call bridging.

2.2 Service functions

NGN services will include session based and non-session based services. Examples of
the session based services are IP telephony and video conferencing, and examples of the non-
session based services are video streaming and broadcasting. The NGN supports also

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network functionality associated with existing PSTN/ISDN services and capabilities and
interfaces to legacy customer equipment.

Service and control functions include session control functions, a registration function as
well as authentication and authorization functions at the service level.

Service user profile functions cover the user and other control information that form a
single user profile function in the service layer. The function may be specified and
implemented as a set of cooperating databases with functionality located in any part of an
NGN.

Application functions, either trusted or untrusted, are used by third party service providers
to access NGN service layer capabilities and resources through servers or gateways in the
service layer. These functions are needed, because NGNs support open APIs that enable third
party service providers to use NGN capabilities in creating enhanced services for NGN users.

2.3 Management functions

The management functions enable an NGN operator to manage the network and
provide NGN services with the required quality, security and reliability. These functions are
distributed to each functional entity and they interact with the network element management,
network management and service management functional entities. The management
functions include charging and billing functions, which interact with each other to collect
resource utilization information. This information enables the operator to bill users properly.
The collected charging and billing information can be used for online interactions, such as
for prepaid services, and for offline interactions.

2.4 End-user functions

Interfaces to the end-user are either physical or functional interfaces, as shown in
Figure 2.1. The ITU specifications do not limit the types of customer interface that can be
connected to an NGN network. The NGN supports all kinds of customer equipment
categories from single line legacy telephones to complex corporate networks. Additionally,
the end-user equipment may be either mobile or fixed.

2.5 IP multimedia subsystem (IMS)

The IMS has a central role in providing session based services for the NGN. IMS is
based on IP protocols defined by Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The 3rd
Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) defined IMS for mobile networks and it was also
introduced for the NGN. IMS is mostly independent of the access network technology,
although there are some transport specific aspects. The basic signaling protocol used by IMS
is the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), which is used to create, modify and terminate
sessions.

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2.5.1 IMS architecture
IMS makes separation between the core and access network. The separation comes
from 3GPP‟s original IMS definitions, i.e. from the wireless network model in which one or
more radio access networks are connected to a common core network. The radio access
networks provide connections between terminals and services available in the core. An
access network is a collection of entities providing IP transport connectivity between a user
domain and a core transport network. Different sorts of access networks are distinguished
based on the underlying technology, ownership or administrative partitioning. IMS defines a
collection of core network functional entities that the core uses in offering IP transport
connectivity between an access network and a core transport network, between two access
networks or between two core networks. The core network also offers connectivity to service
layer entities. The core networks can differ from one another according to the underlying
technology, ownership or administrative partitioning. One of the fundamental characteristics
of an IMS is the support of user mobility. In this context, the distinction between the core and
access networks has significance, especially when dividing the functions necessary to support
an IMS.

Figure 2.2: Network partitioning with respect to IMS [7]

2.5.2 IMS Functional Entities

Figure 2.3 shows the collection of functional entities and reference points of the IMS
functional architecture. The purpose of each entity is explained shortly in the following.

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 Figure 2.3: IMS functional entities and reference points [7]

An application server (AS) provides service control for the IMS. The AS may be directly
connected to a serving call session control function (SCSCF) or via an Open Services
Architecture (OSA) gateway for third party based applications over an ISC reference point.
The ISC interface is SIP based and SIP messages may be carried over this interface to or
from an SCSCF. The AS may interact with the home subscriber server (HSS) over the Sh
interface to obtain subscriber profile information. Application servers are used to support
various Telephony type services.

A breakout gateway control function (BGCF) receives session requests forwarded by an

SCSCF (or another BGCF) and selects the network in which a PSTN attachment point is
located. It also selects a local MGCF or a peer BGCF in another network. The ability to
select a BGCF in another network enables to optimize routing from a visited network to the
PSTN.

Call Session Control Functions (CSCF) is responsible for the control of session features,
routing and resource allocation in cooperation with other network elements. When a SIP
enabled terminal initiates a call, CSCF allocates resources and routes the SIP invite message
to the called terminal. If the called side is a traditional PSTN phone number then CSCF
routes SIP messages to the Breakout Gateway Control Function (BGCF). BGCF selects the
Media Gateway Control Function (MGCF), which perform necessary signaling conversion.
The IMS architecture supports three types of CSCFs:
 Serving CSCF (SCSCF),
 Interrogating CSCF (ICSCF) and
 Proxy CSCF (PCSCF).

Home Subscriber Server (HSS) contains a subscription database for the IMS. It supports
IMS level authentication and authorization as well as keeps record of the IMS subscriber
profiles. The HSS also stores the currently assigned SCSCF. A home network may contain

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one or several HSSs. The number of HSSs depends on the number of subscribers, the
capacity of the equipment and the organization of the network.

Media Gateway Control Function (MGCF) supports interworking between the IMS and
the PSTN. MGCF performs the translation between SIP messages and Integrated Service
Digital Network User Part (ISUP) messages. MGCF also controls MGW.

Media Gateway (MGW) terminates bearer channels from circuit switched networks and
media streams from packet switched networks and performs media conversion functions such
as transcoding. It also offers dual tone multi frequency (DTMF) detection and generation.

Media Resource Function Controller (MRFC) controls MRFP‟s media stream resources.
It interprets information from an AS or SIP endpoint and controls the MRFP accordingly to
support media services such as transcoding and conferencing. The MRFC may be collocated
with an AS to support specialized AS services.

Media Resource Function Processor (MRFP) supports functions such as media stream
mixing, tone and announcement generation, transcoding and media analysis.

Subscription Locator Function (SLF) acts as a front end for distributed HSS systems. It
may be queried by an ICSCF during registration and session setup to get the name of the
HSS, which contains the required subscriber specific data. The SLF may also be queried by
the SCSCF during registration or by the AS in connection with the Sh interface. The SLF is
not needed in a single HSS environment or in certain other HSS environments, such as server
farm architecture.

User Equipment (UE) represents the functionality of user terminals. It supports the specific
capabilities of the access network to which it is connected. It also supports the user agent
capabilities of an IMS client. The UE supports SIP methods/functions as defined by the IMS.

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 3. NGN Protocols

NGN architecture is characterized by the separation of service, transport and control

layers, which are inter connected by open interfaces and use standards protocols. Legacy
TDM networks are interconnected with NGN via interfaces based on open standards and
protocols. A protocol stack typically used in NGN is shown in figure 3.1.

Figure 3.1: Protocols used in NGN [5]

3.1 H.323
H.323 is an ITU Recommendation that defines "packet-based multimedia
communications systems." It defines a distributed architecture for creating multimedia
applications, including VoIP. The H.323 protocol is best known as the original call signaling
protocol that made real time voice and video over IP possible. Being the first solution to
work, H.323 is the most widely deployed protocol in the market and through its veteran

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status and wide acceptance provides telecommunication equipment with the benefits of a
highly mature and completely interoperable signaling solution.

3.2 SIP
Designed by the IETF, the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is an application-layer
control protocol for multimedia communication over IP network. It is used for creating,
modifying and terminating two party sessions, multiparty sessions and multicast sessions
(one sender and many receivers). These sessions include audio, video and data for
multimedia conferences, instant messaging, Internet telephone calls, distance learning,
telemedicine, multiparty real time games etc. Sip defines telephone numbers as URLs
(Uniform Resource Locators), so that web pages can contain them. This allows a click on a
link to initiate a telephone call. These addresses take the form of user@host, similar to e-mail
addresses. The user part, which is left of the “@” sign, may be user name or a telephone
number and host part, which is right of the “@” sign, is a domain name or IP address. SIP
addresses may be obtained out-of-band, learned via media gateways, recorded during earlier
conversations, or guessed (since they‟re often similar to E-mail addresses. SIP may be used
in conjunction with other call setup & signalling protocols and has a verity of other features
like caller reachability, call screening, encryption and authentication etc.

3.3 MGCP
Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP) is a control protocol that uses text or
binary format messages to setup, manage, and terminate multimedia communication sessions
in a centralized communications system. This differs from other multimedia control protocol
systems (such as H.323 or SIP) that allow the end points in the network to control the
communication session. MGCP is specified in RFC 2705. MGCP is, in essence, a
master/slave protocol, where the MGs are expected to execute commands sent by the MGCs.

3.4 H.248
H.248 is an ITU Recommendation that defines „Media Gateway Control Protocol‟. It
is the result of a joint collaboration between the ITU and the IETF. It is also referred to as
IETF RFC 2885 (MEGACO), which defines a centralized architecture for creating
multimedia applications, including VoIP. In many ways, H.248 builds on and extends
MGCP. It is used as a media gateway control protocol between a Media Gateway Controller
(MGC) and a Media Gateway (MG). The ITU-T, the IETF, the International Softswitch
Consortium (ISC), and other standardization organizations are optimizing the H.248 protocol
currently. Telecommunication equipment vendors are investing much in the development and
application of the H.248 protocol. Compared to the MGCP protocol, the H.248 protocol is
more flexible and can support more types of access technologies and mobility of
terminations.

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3.5 SIGTRAN
SIGTRAN (Signaling Transport) is a protocol stack defined by the SIGTRAN
workgroup of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) for transport of switched circuit
network (SCN) signaling over IP networks. This protocol stack supports the inter-layer
standard primitive interface defined in SCN signaling protocol hierarchy model so as to
ensure utilization of the existing SCN signaling application without modification. It uses the
standard IP transport protocol as the transmission bottom layer, and satisfies the special
transmission requirements of SCN signaling by adding its own functions.

3.6 PARLAY/ JAIN

Parlay/JAIN is a suite of open, standard, APIs designed to facilitate easier access to
core network capabilities from outside of the network. The opening up of the network in a
secure manner by such APIs allows the existence of new business models, which allow
applications to be developed and provided by vendors outside of the network operator‟s
domain.

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 4. NGN Services

4.1 Enhanced internet quality

Although the NGN utilizes the same technology as the Internet, there are additions
that make the NGN at least a slightly different from the Internet. The main difference is the
IMS, which builds on the IETF protocols, but implements specific profiles and enhancements
to provide a robust multimedia system. The enhancements and operational profiles offer
support for operator control, billing and security. Additionally, IMS requires a set of vertical
interfaces to provide the following:
 common interfaces to application servers for accounting, security, subscription data,
service control and to service building blocks
 coordinated and enforced QoS (session layer negotiation can be matched with
resources granted at the transport layer, per operator policy)
 session based media gating under operator control
 correlated accounting and charging among the service, session and transport layers

The above capabilities make IMS and thus the NGN different from the Internet on
session control point of view. A network operator controls access to the network and a
service provider controls access to the services. This feature is contradictory to the usual
Internet model in which the network is transparent and all services are provided by
endpoints. Users get an improved experience with managed QoS, single sign on security and
customer support, at least in theory. Thus it can be concluded that the NGN, despite of its
complex structure, is more controllable and therefore more reliable than the usual Internet.

4.2 NGN Service Matrix

NGN platform provides variety of services. A matrix showing various services is
shown in figure 4.1. NGN is able to fulfill all the sophisticated communication service
demands.

Voice Telephony – NGNs will likely need to support various existing voice telephony
services. However, NGNs are not trying to duplicate each and every traditional voice
telephony service currently offered. Rather, they will likely attempt to support only a small
percentage of these traditional services, with an initial focus on the most marketable voice
telephony feature and the features required from a regulatory perspective.

Data (Connectivity) Services –Allows for the real-time establishment of connectivity

between endpoints, along with various value-added features

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 Figure 4.1: NGN Service Drivers [6]

Multimedia Services – Allows multiple parties to interact using voice, video, and/or data.
This allows customers to converse with each other while displaying visual information. It
also allows for collaborative computing and groupware.

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) – Voice VPNs improve the inter location networking
capabilities of businesses by allowing large, geographically dispersed organizations to
combine their existing private networks with portions of the PSTN, thus providing
subscribers with uniform dialing capabilities. Data VPNs provide added security and
networking features that allow customers to use a shared IP network as a VPN.

Public Network Computing (PNC) – Provides public network-based computing services

for businesses and consumers. For example, the public network provider could provide
generic processing and storage capabilities. The public network provider would charge users
for the raw processing and storage used, but would have no knowledge of the specific
content/application. Alternatively, the public network provider could provide specific
business applications or consumer applications, with all or part of the processing/storage
happening in the network. The public network provider could charge based on an hourly,
daily, weekly, etc. licensing fee for the service.

Unified Messaging – Supports the delivery of voice mail, email, fax mail, and pages through
common interfaces. Through such interfaces, users will access, as well as be notified of,
various message types, independent of the means of access.

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Information Brokering – Involves advertising, finding, and providing information to match
consumers with providers. For example, consumers could receive information based on pre-
specified criteria or based on personal preferences and behavior patterns.

E-Commerce – Allows consumers to purchase goods and services electronically over the
network. This could include processing the transactions, verifying payment information,
providing security, and possibly trading. Home banking and home shopping fall into this
category of services. This also includes business-to-business applications.

Call Center Services – A subscriber could place a call to a call center agent by clicking on a
Web page. The call could be routed to an appropriate agent, who could be located anywhere,
even at home. Voice calls and e-mail messages could be queued uniformly for the agents.
Agents would have electronic access to customer, catalog, stock, and ordering information,
which could be transmitted back and forth between the customer and the agent.

Interactive gaming – Offers consumers a way to meet online and establish interactive
gaming sessions.

Distributed Virtual Reality – Refers to technologically generated representations of real

world events, people, places, experiences, etc., in which the participants in and providers of
the virtual experience are physically distributed. These services require sophisticated
coordination of multiple, diverse resources.

Home Manager – With the advent of in-home networking and intelligent appliances, these
services could monitor and control home security systems, energy systems, home
entertainment systems, and other home appliances. Imagine you‟re watching television and
the doorbell rings – no problem – you just use the TV‟s remote to get a view of your front
entrance to see who‟s there. Or imagine monitoring your house while you‟re away on a trip,
or your in-house nanny watching your children while you‟re at work.

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 5. Performance measure

5.1 Quality of Service

For successful delivery of quality to the end-user across NGN there should be Classes
of Application QoS that are mapped into specific Network QoS classes. QoS Parameters are
service specific. For example, call set-up delay, call completion rate and speech quality is
some of the parameters for real-time voice service whereas for IPTV service, Jitter and the
zap time could be important parameters. QoS is complex in converged networks.

5.1.1 Network Centric Parameters

Network Performance as per ITU-T standard is measured in terms of parameters
which are meaningful to the network provider and are used for the purpose of system design,
configuration, operation and maintenance.

 Latency: Latency or IP Packet Transfer Delay (IPTD) is the time between the
occurrences of two corresponding IP packet reference events.

 Jitter: Jitter or IP Packet Delay Variation (IPDV) is the variation in IP packet transfer
delay.

 Packet Error: Packet Error or IP Packet Error Ratio (IPER) is the ratio of total
errored IP packets outcomes to the total of successful IP packet transfer outcomes
plus errored IP packet outcomes in a population of interest.

 Packet Loss: Packet Loss or IP Packet Loss Ratio (IPLR) is the ratio of total lost IP
Packets outcomes to total transmitted IP packets in a population of interest.

 Toll Quality: The voice quality resulting from the use of a nominal 4-kHz telephone
channel.

 Call Completion Rate: It is the ratio of established calls to call attempts during time
consistent busy hour (TCBH).

 Availability of Network: Measure of the degree to which network is operable and

not in a state of failure or outage at any point of time for all users.

5.1.3 Customer Centric Parameters

Customer centric parameters are Service Activation Time, Service De-activation
Time, Service Restoration Time, Clarity of Tariff Plans, Ease of switching between plans,

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Ease of getting Billing information, Ease of Bill payments, Ease of getting refunds, Network
Availability, Billing Accuracy, Security of customer information, Grievance Redressal,
Access to senior executives/ officers, Round the clock availability of customer care, Fault
Repair Service, Redressal of Excess Metering Cases, Service availability etc. There are
already existing regulations for Basic Services, Mobile Services and Broadband Services.

5.1.4 Comparison of different network architectures

The following table shows the comparison of various parameters of different network
architectures.

Best-of-Breed Traditional Multi Service NGN

Appliances Chassis Gateways Architecture
Security Low High High High
Scalability Low Medium - High
Latency - Low High High
Management - Low - High
Adaptability - High - High
Cost/Complexity - Medium Low High
Networking Low Low Medium High

Table 5.1: Comparison of different network architectures

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 6. NGN Challenges

There are various issues in implementation and deployment of NGN in place of

existing network. The causes of the issues differ from operator to operator and county to
country. Some of the common issues are listed below.
 Standardization is not yet universal
 Laws in each country needs to be suitably amended
 Incumbents and other telecom/ internet service providers will have cost issues
 Developing countries are not yet well versed with the advancements
 Convergence is the order of the day at back end - front end too this will need to be
borne in mind while producing user end tools/ products/ services

There are few challenges in deploying NGN with other existing independent
networks like GSM, CDMA, etc. Mobiles and Internet have convergence possibilities though
technology is not the problem, the unit byte cost for riding on the GSM lines are still
whopping. Though user end devices of mobiles (CDMA or GSM), peer-to-peer devices are
now also being tested for remote areas. These tools become extremely valuable for
transmitting content relating to health, education, disasters, etc, yet entertainment interests
the content industry more than the development aspects. There are many internetwork issues
exist when more than one operator comes into service plane.
 There will be issues related to Firewall traversal, Security, translation of protocols in
two networks (interoperability), and lawful interception of calls.
 Session Border Controllers (SBC) will be required at borders, between two NGN
operators.
 Calling party identification must be mandatory for routing the call in NGN networks

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 Conclusion

NGN is a new global platform for all kinds of voice & data services. It provides
plenty of options to subscriber to choose applications of their choice. Also it opens up new
doors of revenue for service providers and operators. It removes the redundant hardware and
connectivity present in the old PSTN. Deployment of NGN also becomes mandatory in order
to accommodate increasing traffic across the world. By 2015 almost all the PSTN will
converge into NGN.

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 Acronyms

3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project

ANI Application to network interface
AS Application server
BGCF A breakout gateway control function
CDMA Code division multiple access
CSCF Call Session Control Functions
DSCPs Differentiated services field code points
DTMF Dual tone multi frequency
GSM Global System for Mobile Communications
HSS Home subscriber server
ICSCF Interrogating Call Session Control Functions
IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem
IP Internet Protocol
IPDV IP Packet Delay Variation
IPER IP Packet Error Ratio
IPLR IP Packet Loss Ratio
IPTD IP Packet Transfer Delay
ISC International Softswitch Consortium
ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network
ISUP Integrated Service Digital Network User Part
ITU International Telecommunication Union
MG Media Gateway
MGC Media Gateway Controller
MGCF Media Gateway Control Function
MGCP Media Gateway Control Protocol
MGW Media Gateway
MRFC Media Resource Function Control
MRFP Media Resource Function Processor
NACF Network attachment control functions
NAPT Network address and port translation
NGN Next Generation Network
NNI Network to network interface
OSA Open Services Architecture
PCSCF Proxy Call Session Control Functions
PNC Public Network Computing
PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network
QoS Quality of Service
RACF Resource and admission control functions
SBC Session Border Controllers
SCN Switched Circuit Network
SCSCF Serving Call Session Control Functions

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SIGTRAN Signaling Transport
SIP Session Initiation Protocol
SLF Subscription Locator Function
TCBH Time Consistent Busy Hour
TDM Time Division Multiplexing
UE User Equipment
UNI User to network interface
URLs Uniform Resource Locators
VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol
VPNs Virtual Private Networks
Wi-Fi Wireless Fidelity
WiMax Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access

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 References

[1] ITU-T Recommendation Y.2001, “General overview of NGN”.

[2] ITU-T Recommendation Y.2011, “General principles and general reference model for
Next Generation Networks.”

[3] ITU-T Recommendation Y.2012, “Functional requirements and architecture of the NGN
release 1.”

[4] ITU-T Recommendation Y.2021, “IMS for Next Generation Networks.”

[5] Telecommunication Engineering Centre Recommendation, “NGN Protocols.”

[6] A Telcordia Technologies Recommendation “Next Generation Network (NGN) Services.”

[7] Knightson, K. Morita, N. Towle, T., “NGN architecture: generic principles, functional
architecture, and implementation.” IEEE Communications Magazine, Volume: 43, Page(s):
49 – 56.

[8] Dharwadkar, S.N.; Dale, M.P.; Masood, N.; Joshi, M.A.; “NGN need and challenges.”
Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks, 2008. IET International Conference on,
Pages(s): 30 - 33

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