An Intelligent Network Architecture for Internet-PSTN Service Interworking

This paper examines Intelligent Network (IN) approaches to interworking between the PSTN and Internet. It notes that until now, convergence between Internet and PSTN has taken place mainly at the transport and (less so) signalling layers. Even there however, the integration is not seamless enough to guarantee the ability to use the same IN superstructure over both constituents. This is an important concern given the investments that have been made in IN technology and its ability to introduce new services expeditiously. Further, the Internet world is more service-rich than PSTN and has a completely different service model. Telephony services are but a small fraction of the services that Internet can offer. Can IN retain its validity when examining provision of services other than telephony? How can IN concepts be put to use to allow interworking between, for instance, the web and the phone? In this paper we are describing an architecture that makes use of distributed object technology and IN principles in order to provide a comprehensive framework for service interworking.