Standardization and challenges of smart ubiquitous networks in ITU-T

ITU-T has been developing smart ubiquitous networks (SUN) as a near-term realization of future networks. This article introduces key concepts and frameworks of SUN as telecommunication infrastructures for emerging smart and ubiquitous environments in terms of capabilities and architectures. As a challenge for SUN development, we identify context awareness as a key capability for providing "smartness," and propose methodologies and operational processes to support context-aware networking including a functional model. Finally, we illustrate a use case of SUN considering a smart city, and discuss future work and open issues for SUN standardization in ITU-T.