Performance and overload considerations when introducing IN into an existing network

Service performance should reflect the expectations of the service user with respect to availability, promptness and ease of use. Service performance should not only be guaranteed during normal load, but during loads exceeding the network engineered capacity or peak traffic occurrences. As the current intelligent network (IN) solutions depend on a centralized service control point (SCP) node for service execution, an effective overload mechanism is required to ensure the integrity of SCP node during overload. In addition, the overload mechanism should accommodate for the migration of IN downward in the network and the eventual evolution of the telecommunication network. Two overload mechanisms, Automatic Call Gapping and Window, are introduced and compared. It is shown how Automatic Call Gapping due to its flexibility, features and adaptability not only meets today's expectations but is well suited for the future.<>