Transition to NGN and Future Evolution

Transition to NGN from traditional PSTN/ISDN is inevitable process. Hence, this chapter covers the transition to NGN from PSTN/ISDN by using emulation and simulation. On the other side, the chapter includes migration of best‐effort Internet to NGN, including best‐effort access to Internet as well as QoS‐enabled services. Further, it describes the NGN standardized approach for building Carrier Grade Open Environments (CGOE) by using standardized Commercial‐Off‐The‐Shelf (COTS) components. However, to provide the full functionality the NGN shall evolve to IPv6 based network, due to bigger and new addressing schemes as well as enhanced features regarding QoS, security, reliability, multihoming, and mobility support, hence IPv6‐based NGN gets deserved attention in this chapter, which then focuses on emerging trends in networking, including network virtualization and future networks developments such as cloud computing and Software‐Defined Networking (SDN). The chapters concludes with business challenges and opportunities brought by NGN and future networks.