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Editor's Perspective
The element of surprise
By Tim McElligott
May 22, 2007
Eight years ago, the last new element was added to the periodic table.
It was created more than it was discovered, by bombarding a film of
plutonium-244 with a beam of calcium-48 atoms for 40 days (and 40
nights?) in Russia's Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna near
Moscow with some help from scientists at Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory in California. It was atomic element number 114. It existed
for 30 seconds, an epoch for heavier nuclei. Number 114 lasted 100,000
times longer than its closest relative--number 112.
Scientists thought they had reached their mathematically deduced island
of stability, a happy place with extraordinarily long-lived superheavy
nuclei that last long enough to allow for in-depth study of their
nuclear behavior and chemistry.
Then a funny thing happened on the way to the island. In October 2006,
element 118 was created--the newest new element. They called it
ununoctium, and it was the heaviest element. It didn't last long,
though--just nine ten-thousandths of a second.
That's the thing with elements, you never know. The telecom network
comprises elements as well, but of a different sort. There used to be
the equivalent of a periodic table that listed the functional elements
of the telecommunications network. That's all been thrown out the
window
now. In its place is something called the IP multimedia subsystem. Most
experts agree that the IMS is the periodic table for next-generation
networks, or at least it will be someday. In the meantime, it is a work
in progress and necessarily malleable. New elements are popping up all
the time.
The latest to be introduced is the application session controller (ASC)
by AppTrigger. In chemistry, when a new element is announced, chemists
around the world attempt to duplicate its creation, and if successful,
they add it to the table and study it. In telecom, when a new element
is
announced, religious wars erupt and equipment manufacturers clamor to
claim the functionality as their own or at least incorporate it into
their god boxes.
Sometimes, the element is so revolutionary and necessary that it pulls
the equivalent of element 118 and lasts on its own for a relatively
long
time. There's a lot to be said for this new element, the ASC. By virtue
of its ability to realize one of the main goals of IMS--to insulate
applications from the chaos that occurs in the network--the ASC, like
the session border controller, has a good chance of finding and holding
its niche.
Creating an element that doesn't exist in nature by itself is an
amazing
feat. For a small company to create an element that does not exist in
the network today and have Tier 1 carriers accept it may not be on par
with the creation of ununoctium, but it pretty much beats leaping tall
buildings in a single bound or being more powerful than a locomotive.
Speaking of which, the next newest new element to be found -- just last
month -- is kryptonite. It was found in Serbia. No kidding. But alas,
the discoverers of the new element will lay claim to its name for only
so long. When the powers that be from Natural Resources Canada, the
Geological Survey of Canada and the Canadian Museum of Nature step in,
the European Journal of Minerology will formally describe the new
mineral later this year as Jadarite.
I wonder how long AppTrigger gets to lay claim to the name "application
session controller."
E-mail me at tmcelligott@telephonyonline.com.
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Feature
The great
insulator
By Tim mcelligott
May 22, 2007
If everyone agrees that IMS is the long-term solution to
next-generation
service delivery--and it appears they do--what is the more immediate
solution? Some have proposed that the service delivery platform (SDP)
is
the right interim approach. But not everyone agrees...
(Click on the link above or scroll down for the full-length
feature)
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In the Spotlight
Ronald Gruia,
Frost &
Sullivan
By Tim McElligott
May 22, 2007
Ronald Gruia, principal analyst for emerging telecom at Frost &
Sullivan, is an expert on IMS. And he is familiar with the imperfect
world of networking. He recently wrote a white paper on the concept of
the application session controller and how it might solve some of the
complexity that is still the bane of IMS. He spoke with
Telephony's Tim McElligott about the idea of the ASC and the
company who introduced the idea to the market: AppTrigger...
(Click on the link above or scroll down for the full-length
interview)
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addressing this topic.
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Feature (Full-length)
The great insulator
By Tim mcelligott
May 22, 2007
If everyone agrees that IMS is the long-term solution to
next-generation
service delivery--and it appears they do--what is the more immediate
solution? Some have proposed that the service delivery platform (SDP)
is
the right interim approach. But not everyone agrees.
There are shortcomings to many SDP approaches. One of the shortest is
the disagreement among vendors as to what, exactly, a SDP is. For this
discussion, we'll go on the assumption that an SDP, as Ronald Gruia,
principal analyst at Frost & Sullivan says, includes an application
server, a SIP gateway and a content delivery platform. Gruia said this
and other SDP approaches simply create new stovepipes or move the
management of stovepipes to another domain.
And stovepipes, said Patrick Fitzgerald, vice president of marketing at
Richardson, Texas-based AppTrigger, do not reach across networks.
"The challenge to doing cross-network converged applications is
enormous," Fitzgerald said.
The problem starts with the number of different protocols and
interfaces
employed by the various network operators, such as H.323, IS41, mobile
applications part and session initiation protocol. These are in
addition
to those used in voice-over-IP networks as well as ATM, frame relay and
other IP-based data networks. And that's just the beginning.
The problem is exacerbated by applications that, despite being
developed
with convergence in mind, still focus on the signaling requirements of
their primary network technology.
"Even the independent application developers were creating apps
optimized for one network," Fitzgerald said.
To get applications to work across networks, service providers have to
rely on developers to rewrite their applications as the network
evolves,
he said. "But the developers are not focused on the network and all the
changes going on there. So there are a limited amount of converged
applications available."
Although IMS is evolving to address this by separating the network and
control layers from application delivery, a short-term solution that
extends and simplifies the interim SDP solution is required.
To this end, AppTrigger recently introduced a new network element
called
the application session controller (ASC). The ASC is technically part
of
the application layer. It sits between that layer and the core network
to act as a single connection point for managing the interconnection
and
inter-working between multiple access networks and the application
layer. It "insulates" the application layer nodes from the craziness of
continual changes in network protocols, interfaces, configuration and
security changes, new releases and other modifications. This way,
applications do not have to react to every network change or modify
themselves in anyway to remain interoperable.
Functionally, the ASC provides traffic signaling and feature
transparency between networks. It also provides call control
independent
of the network, so application developers no longer have to write that
into their applications.
One of its bigger selling points is its ability to act as a bridge
between the Intelligent Network (of SS7 fame) and emerging IMS
networks.
Fitzgerald said the gateway solution implemented to bridge these two
worlds serves to complicate the interconnection schemes between
converging networks and the application infrastructure. "Gateways were
not built to provide application connectivity," he said.
It was partly this connectivity capability that first attracted one of
AppTrigger's partners: Intervoice.
Intervoice has been in the interactive voice application business for
20
years. It specializes in large-scale applications such as voice mail,
video mail, networked interactive voice response and call completion.
"Almost all telephony applications are interactive," said Ravi
Narayanan, vice president of product management at Intervoice.
Although it serves both the enterprise and service provider markets, it
has consolidated its SS7-based service orchestration platform into a
common product for both segments called Media Exchange.
Until recently, Intervoice developed all of its own applications and
ran
them on Media Exchange. "But we are making our platform more
third-party
friendly by bringing in more tools and [application interfaces]. We
recognize there are other people who are really good at developing
applications," Narayanan said.
The company also realized others were good at building signaling
stacks,
something else Intervoice was wont to do on its own. "When we went to
the common Media Exchange platform, we decided to consciously divorce
ourselves from SS7 as a company that owned its own stacks as
intellectual property. That's when we started to work with AppTrigger,"
Narayanan said.
Intervoice did want to maintain its intellectual property in the area
of
its applications, its service delivery platform and service creation
environment, and it wanted to focus its software expertise on
applications and media capabilities. However, it felt AppTrigger's
ability to make signaling and routing more unique, manageable and
programmable made it an easy decision to begin partnering.
"We have worked with them in multiple customer environments. In each
case, it was in a different environment and never did we have to redo
the code," Narayanan said.
The two companies have partnered on deployments in Latin America,
Venezuela and the Far East. Their latest joint deployment was with a
mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in the U.K. where the ASC was
deployed.
Intervoice has made AppTrigger a component of its overall solution. It
falls short of an OEM relationship, but Narayanan said it is more than
being a reseller. It is strategic.
Fitzgerald said partnerships such as the one with Intervoice help
AppTrigger gets its ASC message in front of the large carriers that
need
it but that might not want to give the time of day to a small vendor
with the audacity to be introducing a new network element.
"We don't want to go sit on the doorstep of AT&T for 36 months,"
Fitzgerald said. "But we do feel that the trend is going our way. If
you
can insulate the applications from evolving networks and create
converged experiences with a single network element--that will do it."
CompTIA recently said that convergent applications were third only
behind security and wireless data in the type of applications that will
most affect consumers in 2007. Fitzgerald said consumers see what is
happening with consolidation among service providers and can
extrapolate
what that might mean for them. "The market is coming together, and the
networks are coming together and end users want a transparent
experience."
Frost & Sullivan's Gruia said the ASC can help make this a reality in a
number of ways: by insulating applications so they don't get delayed in
their introduction by network changes, reducing capital expenses by
using a purpose-built solution optimized for multi-application and
multi-network application delivery, and by incorporating emerging
protocols directly into the ASC.
The ASC also provides feature transparency for end users who know not
from where their applications come and gives them the same experience
regardless of access technology or device.
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In the Spotlight
(Full-length)
Ronald Gruia, Frost &
Sullivan
By Tim McElligott
May 22, 2007
In a perfect world, IMS would still be the long-term solution to what
ails telecom service providers. And in a perfect world, it could be
implemented quite easily. However, though a modern marvel of
engineering
and innovation, the network world is far from perfect. It often
performs
perfectly, but it does so amid a complex and at times convoluted
entanglement of network elements, protocols and functional layers that
have made it hard for service providers to adjust to meet new market
demands.
Ronald Gruia, principal analyst for emerging telecom at Frost &
Sullivan, is an expert on IMS. And he is familiar with the imperfect
world of networking. He recently wrote a white paper on the concept of
the application session controller and how it might solve some of the
complexity that is still the bane of IMS. He spoke with
Telephony's Tim McElligott about the idea of the ASC and the
company who introduced the idea to the market: AppTrigger.
On the advantages of the ASC vs. the typical service delivery
platform: With the service delivery platform, you are still
creating
new stove pipes. When you look at the concepts behind the SDP -- [Open
Service Access/Parley] and Parlay X -- it certainly looks good on
paper,
but in practice it has a few shortcomings. You still need the extra
network-specific gear and connectivity and signaling gateways. This
creates new silos, and it goes against the promise of the SDP, which is
having reusable horizontal solutions. It's just moving the silo further
down the network.
I think that the application controller kind of solves that. It is a
new
element that resides at the edge between the application and the
control
layer and manages the connectivity to the application and insulates the
application server nodes from the network. That's the concept of the
ASC--to break up the silos brought in by the SDP.
The SDP is still an integral part of a pre-IMS network. And if you
define the SDP as including the application server, the SIP gateway and
a content delivery platform, then that ecosystem is integral to IMS.
But
in addition to requiring additional infrastructure such as media
gateways and signaling gateways, SDPs are often relying on OSA/Parlay
and Parlay X, which do not address legacy [intelligent network]
application support.
On how the ASC eliminates the requirement for some gateways: The
idea with the ASC is it incorporates a lot of standard [application
interfaces] plus signaling, media and all the feature inter-working
between networks. And it simplifies the network diagram a little. You
eliminate stovepipes because it supports multiple applications, and
right now, the current deployment model is a single application to a
single network. So with the ASC, you have that single point of
interface
for evolving the network and the signaling layers. That's the key
advantage because it eliminates all those stovepipes. It simplifies the
network diagram, so it is not surprising AppTrigger has already
deployed
with quite a few customers. They are doing interesting work.
On how simple diagrams lead to concern over the dreaded single point
of failure: Yes. You do have to make sure there is enough
redundancy
there. You have to have survivability, and that is something I've
talked
to AppTrigger about. I think they should expand on that in their white
papers. If big-time carriers are going to think about going this way,
it
will have to meet that redundancy criteria. Reliability and
availability
are definitely important.
On whether big time carriers are thinking of going this way:
Many
carriers are beginning to look at this. Even if they are not ready to
deploy IMS right now, they do want to buy into the SIP application
server environment. But anytime you bring in a new idea, you get the
full gamut of opinions. Some say, 'Oh no, not another box,' and some
say
it is good because it solves a pain point. But if you approach it with
an open mind, I think you might want to take a look at this.
Yes, it does increase complexity a little as a separate box, but it
eliminates silos. It creates another element in IMS, which is pretty
crowded as it is, but it may be worth it if it meets the objective of
becoming a single connectivity point.
On how a small vendor gets its new element to market: The big
thing for AppTrigger is finding partners to go to market with. Blended
marketing solutions are better. They have a partner in Intervoice, but
they will need to work with networking equipment vendors as well. It is
an interesting story because with IMS people say things are getting
more
fragmented and that service providers are more willing to find
solutions
that require a plethora of vendors. But on the other hand, they don't
want to be bothered with dealing with a whole lot of vendors. They want
their relationships streamlined. So they have to have a big system
integrator involved. Someone has to take ownership.
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