NGN Migration

There is an urgent need that telecommunication services that are converged and qualitative be offered as this will pave way for the Next Generation Networks focusing on reducing the existing digital divide. NGN migration involves the process of changing the dormant cabinets to being active. This requires very accurate information on the local loop connectivity enabling the existing pairs to be rapidly copied from the existing frame to a new one and without erring. (Michael, 2001) Once the migration is completed without any service interruption any information concerning the quality of the pairs is very important in supplying the high-bandwidth services. Most carriers and service providers are looking for an aggressive improvement of their services and their migration to the New Generation Services Network. There is an intense competition which is continually eroding the profitability of most of the service providers majority of whom are transiting to IP.The NGN service providers thus need more inventive   joint infrastructures  Ã‚   that will improve the current services delivery. They should also provide a framework for solutions in the intelligence of the greater network. (Lee, Deborah, Kevin, and Sally, 2000) The carriers will not only have a short term relief through flexibility and incorporation but also their position in seizing other new market opportunities will be expanded. The solutions which are part and parcel of the Cisco IP NGN objectives encompass a wider transformation of both the entire businesses and the service providers. The IP NGN sanctions the service providers to meet all the customers’ needs more efficiently while providing a basis for delivering profit sustaining applications. Cisco IP NGM has created an intelligent infrastructure that opens opportunities for service providers so that they can offer more advanced and personalized media services over any other form of connection. Cisco strongly supports the NGN transition in relation to its conceptual planning and the network design. It also serves as a business partner supporting the service providers on the NGN migration. Cisco on the other hand assists the service providers in transforming their businesses and their networks. The transformation offers new value added services that help them increase their profitability and achieve greater efficiency. The IP NGM cannot be bought by the service providers since it evolves constantly adapting to its customers demands and opportunities in the new technology. However it is possible to still give speculations about the transformation. The NGM encompasses the service provider’s current and future services realizing the fact that the largest part of the growth will be in data and video services. Voice services will initially be significant in the service portfolio giving way to richer media services inclusive of video, voice and data. (Larry & Bruce, 2000) The shift towards NGN entails the service provider’s network as a whole since it not only concerns itself with bandwidth in network access but also in the delivery of an excellence bandwidth in the entire network. IP NGM is more about making significant changes to an individual network thus creating a single network for service deliveries. A regulators global symposium held in February 2007 laid down guidelines for NGNs migration with a goal of promoting frameworks that promote innovation, and a reasonably priced access to NGN.This took place in a three day meeting in Dubai during which   Ã‚  guidelines for telecommunications migration were laid down. The regulators designed a roadmap that would encourage frameworks that are regulated .The International Engineering Consortium experts gave an NGN definition as the blend between the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and the public switched data network (PSDN) as it also creates a multi service single network. An explanation was given that the switch infrastructures proprietary owned, the architecture for NGNs pushes for a central office functions to the network edge. The results are a network infrastructure that is well distributed leveraging open and new technologies therefore reducing the market entry cost and increasing flexibility as well as accommodate the packet-switched data and the circuit-switched data. (Ericsson, 2001) Other scholars similarly defined it as the future networks stimulated by the need to transport data and multimedia services through the same network having very flexible deployment and the capability to change various models in the economy for the best results. The telecommunications regulatory department globally that is in charge of the standardization also defined NGN as a network that is packet based with the potential to provide various telecommunication services and simultaneously making use of the multiple broadband. Practically speaking the NGN involves architectural changes which include the core network through the PSTN design and the cable and wire access.NGN encompasses transport networks as a core network with each built for a totally different service to become a single transport network which is oftenly based on either internet protocol (IP) or Ethernet. There is a specific definition between the network services running on the transports top and the connectivity ratio of the network. This indicates that when a new service is to be enabled by a provider this could be done by first directly defining the service layer without the consideration of the transport layer. Here the services are independent of any details pertaining transport thus increasing the applications that are independent of the network access through delayering of the application and the networks. The global symposium for the regulators was initiated in the year 2000with participants from all over the world as this year they centered on the NGNs migration. It focused on the roadmap to next generation’s networks and how they could achieve success at the same time promoting investment. The meeting also fully did an examination on the regulatory issues that are very urgent such as the NGNs interconnection, competition, universal access, consumer protection, investment and the global interconnection of the internet. According to the regulators secretary general the best practices were to be adopted offering a possible way of providing benefits to both the consumers and the service providers through reduced costs. They would also offer new and innovative services to the consumers. The guidelines also called upon the regulators to adopt regimes that can be subjected to regular checkups ensuring that competition barriers are eliminated. They were to ensure that both the users and the providers can easily migrate to other networks in the future when all the required market conditions are met. (Bennett, 2001) The regulators were ready to tailor the adopted practices in the world market as they were also urged in adopting flexible interconnection models that would allow a very smooth transition to the NGNs.They were also urged to maintain a playing field that is leveled thus protecting the interests of the consumers. The participants made an agreement that various steps were to be taken that the market did not suffer any form of competition distortion especially in the issue of convergence. There was also a risk that the providers of the NGN and the operators also were in a position to regulate the competition at the service level to their own advantage. The regulators were also cautioned to be on the look out monitoring any incidents requiring a regulatory response (Erick, 2001) The ITU director also gave an explanation that NGN was placed in-between thee internet and the telecom worlds thus bringing out a variety of issues to be handled by the regulators themselves. They were also encouraged to clearly define policies that would allow the IP networks and the legacy to co-exist offering a voice together. There should be a consideration put in place while making the obligations applicable to the providers and the operators of the telephony services not considering the service delivery to the consumers (Anders 2000) The issues pertaining the process of the NGNs migration are to be addressed with urgency for the formation of a high level co-coordinating committee consisting of the major key players in the industry. These key people are to all the issues relevant so that there is a there is a systematic and smooth transition from the existing networks to the NGNs.Various issues are to be handled by the committee formed so that they can create awareness for the NGNs building programme.They are also expected to put up a timetable for the NGN migration world wide.    References Anders A. (2000):   Capacital study of statistical multiplexing for IP telephony. Technical Report T2000:03, SICS. P 78-105 Bennett, J.   (2001): Voice over packet reliability issues for next generation net- Works. In IEEE International Conference on Communications, volume 1, ICC, June 2001. P 142–145. Eirik, H. (2001):   Planning for migration to a next generation network. Master’s thesis, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, September 2001 p 89-99 Ericsson, O. (2001):   The migration story: Different highways to a multi-service net- Work. White Paper, October 2001. p 85 Larry L. & Bruce S. (2000):   Computer Networks, a Systems Approach. Morgan Kaufmann, second edition. P 45-66 Lee B., Deborah E., Kevin, F., and Sally F. (2000): Advances in network simulation. IEEE Computer, 33(5), 78-84 Michael, D. (2001):   Evolving the next generation network. Technical Report PR 109 NPD 01, Eircom, March 2001.p 56-89