Metamorphosis of Telco Architecture

Abstract

Telecommunications- and IT-industry are in a phase of alteration which is caused by the convergence of both worlds. Highly developed network services on the one hand and IT-applications on the other hand permit communication and access to applications independent from time and place. Telecommunications (TC) service providers offer IT-Services whereas software producers enter the classic TC-domains. At the same time, once complex individual services turn to increasingly competitive mass products, leading to a significant decline in prices. The need of the users for common administrative services throughout all communication channels and standardized value added services is growing steadily. These are for instance authentication, directory, voice mail, presence-information, e-mail, calendar, as well as complex applications. At the same time, service providers strive to launch new services and applications and aim for a considerable reduction of production costs. The speed of the market plays an increasing role caused by consumer demand for constant innovation or the necessity to be able to react fast enough to unexpected incidents. To be a sustainable market leader, the company has to ensure appropriate performance in this area. To meet the demands of customers and providers, different obstacles have to be overcome, which will only be possible with fundamental renewal and migration into new architecture. Basic technology barriers impede this development up to now. For decades a great variety of networks for different branches such as public telephone network, mobile network, data network platform, or dedicated networks for business customers were generated.