Towards an isdn signaling system paving the way for the future

Although ISDN and OSI erupted in the world of telecommunications a dozen years ago, it is fair to recognize that the marriage has not completely been consummated between telephony and data communication. This is particularly true for ISDN network signaling, in the CCITT 7 environment where the habits and customs of telephony still prevail. Circuit switching is today, within the network, the backbone of ISDN services. Tomorrow we can expect new services that go beyond what we experience and imagine now. The design of an integrated, intelligent and flexible signaling system to allow easy evolution of services and flexible distribution of intelligence within the network, is a key to this future. This paper discusses the concepts which span the study of such a new signaling system.