Features

Next generation networks (NGNs) promise to do what umpteen technologies have done before them: improve productivity, reduce costs, increase ROI, lower TCO, increase efficiency. The list is endless. An NGN can indeed do all of the above, but there are a number of ifs and buts that need to be taken into consideration first.

The first is the ongoing confusion around what an NGN is. Simply put, it's an all-IP, packet-based network. Or, as the ITU prefers: “A packet-based network able to provide services including telecommunication and able to make use of multiple broadband, quality of service-enabled transport technologies and in which service-related functions are independent from underlying transport-related technologies. It offers unrestricted access by users to different service providers. It supports generalised mobility that will allow consistent and ubiquitous provision of services to users.”