Network service creation - a key to the future

As the business goals that network service providers (NSPs) seek to achieve evolve so must the tools and technologies em ployed to achieve those goals. The NSPs'primary business goal is simple: to improve the response, in the dimensions ofboth time and quality, to customers' needs. This goal has been and is driving NSPs to seek develop, verify, and implement changes to their existing telecommunications network that will reduce significantly the interval from conception to implementation of new or modified services. To reach this goal, a major focus is currently the Intelligent Network (IN). The term 'intelligent network' stems from the application of database technology to provide flexible network architectures in terms of the routing, terminating, and intermediate call processing functions that can be applied to customer communications. Network service creation is a critical aspect of IN that represents the ultimate value of evolution to an intelligent network architecture. Simply put, service creation is the ability for network services to be developed by multiple vendors, new and old, in less time and at less cost than can be accomplished today. This paper presents a view of the shortcomings of today's service creation process and derives a list of capabilities needed by service providers. A service creation process is offered that addresses these shortcomings and describes the applicable oper ating environmenisfor services and the support process for their development. The impacts on vendors and network service providers are also discussed.