JAIN: a new approach to services in communication networks

JAIN/sup TM/, a set of integrated network APIs for the Java/sup TM/ platform, provides a framework to build and integrate solutions (or "services") that span across packet (e.g., IP or ATM), wireless, and PSTN networks. The objective of JAIN is to provide service portability, convergence, and secure access (by services residing outside of the network) to such integrated networks. JAIN is defined and specified by a large number of participating communication companies (the JAIN Community), and according to a well-documented process (the Java Community Process or JCP). The objective of the JAIN Community is to create an open market for services across integrated networks using Java technology. The authors provide the JAIN business case. They then summarize how the JAIN Community works, and introduce how the JAIN Community is organized. They also explain how separate JAIN work items fit together. In particular, they provide the rationale for the currently supported levels of abstraction (in terms of session/call signaling models) in JAIN, and look at possible implementation scenarios.