On Intelligent Network Application Protocol (INAP) Standards and Relevant Implementation Issues

摘要

The Intelligent Network (IN) concept encompasses several key technologies (e.g.,data communications,database management,computer languages,etc.) that,when applied to telecommunications,resuit in fast introduction of services and vendor independence.Freephone and Cradit-Card Calling are classical examples of services that have been successfully implemented using Intelligent Network.In addition,Intelligent Network is the key to support Personal Communications Services (PCS) and Universal Personal Telecommunications Services,which are being planned,standardized,and implemented now.The industry recognized long ago the need for an IN standard that would benefit all segments of telecommunications,and the work on the international IN standard has been carded out in ITU-T (formerly,CCITT) for a long time.The technical and editorial work on both the general IN recommendations and the ones specific to what is called Capability Set 1 (CS-1) were completed and approved in March 1993.Subsequently,both the ANSI T1S1 Committee and ETSi had started projects on,respectively,the U.S.and European IN standards.Both developments provided a feed-back to ITU-T,which,in turn,resulted in refinements of CS-1.At the same time,the work on the IN Capability Set 2 (CS-2) is in progress.The ultimate product of CS-1 standardization was the Intelligent Network Application Protocol (INAP).This paper briefly reviews the main concepts of the CS-1 recommendations before it centers on several key implementation issues related to the Intelligent Network Application Protocol (INAP).