Human computer interaction in the advanced intelligent network

Traditionally, new telephone services have been made possible through modifications which were made to switching systems. This method of implementing new telephone services had a number of drawbacks, however. The introduction of the intelligent network in the 1980s addressed these drawbacks by removing the service control function from the many switches and placing it instead in a few centralized network-resident data bases, which made it possible to introduce new services more rapidly and consistently throughout the network. Advances in the implementation of the intelligent network include the introduction of user-defined telephone services via service-creation systems. Such systems provide the means for easy, near-real-time programming of new telephone services in the intelligent network's centralized data bases. These concepts are introduced, and the development of one service creation system which relies heavily on users' input and on user-centered design principles, is described. Issues and questions stemming from this approach to the introduction of new services are also presented.