An architecture for IN-internet hybrid services

The scenario for telecom services is undergoing a rapid change. A new set of communication services is emerging: due to the explosion of the Internet and to the dramatic increase of mobile phone markets, more and more customers are requiring new Internet-based communication services. The ability to merge the ubiquitous telephone service (terminal and personal mobility) and the friendliness (easy-to-use, easy-to-customize) of the Internet is recognized as a major driver to promote new classes of services. Users want to access multiple services over heterogeneous networks and from heterogeneous terminals. The higher flexibility in service offers as well as the possibility of a rapid introduction of new services (typical of Internet & IT worlds) are key factors that give a high competitive advantage to service providers (SPs). This article describes a supporting distributed architecture in terms of functionality and components, which enables the integration of the IN architecture and the Internet. It also describes by means of a service example - the virtual presence (VP)- the main interactions among the components that form the architecture. The developed solutions prove that the use of distributed platforms, open APIs, and object-oriented techniques are enabling factors in achieving full interoperability between heterogeneous networks and terminals. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.