Next Generation Network (NGN)

One of the interesting side-effects of VoIP is that the technology has forced all of the incumbent service providers around the world to pause and re-examine their own business. They have all come to one realization: VoIP will replace the PSTN and is a serious threat to their current business model.

In an effort to regain control of the explosion of new service providers and competition that will erode their revenues, traditional service providers have initiated a new effort referred to as the Next Generation Network (NGN). The definition of the NGN seems fairly benign as defined in ITU Recommendation Y.2001:

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

Any person who reads this definition and understands the technology would summarize this definition as "a well-managed Internet". This certainly sounds encouraging for those who hope to perpetuate the growth of VoIP and other multimedia services.

Unfortunately, not all things are as they appear. One of the statements made in the NGN specifications is that the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) defined by 3GPP is at the core of the NGN and all other IP services (including data collaboration, movies-on-demand, Internet radio, etc.) is simply lumped into one small part of the NGN and is given little or no attention at all. As such, the NGN can rightfully be viewed as a very-much voice-centric effort with no real desire to grow and encourage other non-voice services.

ITU-T SG16 is trying to overcome that limitation through the development of H.325, which is a new multimedia communication system that integrated audio, video, and data communication though a new modular system design that allows applications to execute on a plurality of devices. With this new protocol, a person might use a mobile phone to initiate a phone call, use a Bluetooth headset for audio, use a PC for application sharing, and view a video stream on a separate LCD screen—all part of a single "conference" and as easily as a traditional phone call today. What's more, third party application developers can create new applications and plug them into the system effortlessly, so users are no longer restricted to voice or some small set of pre-defined applications.

The NGN work currently underway will have a big impact on the communication systems employed today. For more information, visit NGN Service Provider and the H.325 Information Site.