Service Provision: Technologies for Next Generation Communications (Wiley Series on Communications Networking & Distributed Systems) - Hardcover

This book provides the first overview of the service technologies available to telecoms operators working in a post-convergence world. Previous books have focused either on computer networks or on telecoms networks. This is the first to bring the two together and provide a single reference source for information that is currently only to be found in disparate journals, tool specifications and standards documents. In order to provide such broad coverage of the topic in a structured and logical fashion, the book is divided into 3 parts. The first part looks at the underlying network support for services and aims to explain the technology that makes the user-visible services possible. This section covers multimedia networking, both traditional (legacy) and future (softswitch) call processing, intelligent networks, the Internet, and Wireless networks. Part 2 deals with how these services may be analysed and managed. Chapters cover topics such as commercial issues, service management, quality of service, security, standards and APIs. Part 3 concludes the book by looking ahead at evolving technologies and more speculative possibilities, discussing the kinds of services that may be possible in the future and the technologies that will support them. Focuses is on how the technology supports the services, rather than on technology for its own sake Contributors drawn from both academia and industry (companies such as Marconi, BT, Telcordia, Cisco, Analysys) to give both theoretical and real-world perspectives Unique singe-reference source for a wide range of material currently found only in disparate papers, specs and documentation Covers brand new technologies such as JAIN, JTAPI, Parlay, IP, multimedia networking, active networks, WAP, wireless LANs, agent-based services, etc.

Today's communications infrastructure serves a demanding public. Networks must accommodate voice and data, text and multimedia, intelligence and responsiveness. They must provide quality of service, flexibility as well as security, and connect seamlessly to mobile and fixed devices.

Service Provision. Technologies for Next Generation Communication takes in the broad sweep of developments in communications services. The breadth of the field and the pace of technological change make it difficult to keep abreast of developments outside one's own area of expertise. This books helps by bringing together the combined expertise of the contributors on a wide range of topics, including:

• call processing
• service capability APIs
• multimedia standards
• messaging
• Internet telephony
• 3G wireless networks

Structured in 3 parts, Service Provision. Technologies for Next Generation Communications :

• Provides a comprehensive reference to the state-of-the-art in communications services
• Describes all aspects of the technologies required to provide customers with the multiplicity of communication options they demand
• Covers network support for services, building and analysing services, and projections of how services will evolve
• Includes examples and case studies as well as standards information

This pragmatic approach will be ideal for communications engineers, strategists, consultants, managers, educators and students. The book is suitable for self-study or as part of a graduate course on communications.