Summary

The Intelligent Network is a continually-evolving model for distributed service processing in the telecommunications network. The models that represent call processing provide a generic interface for distributed control, thereby allowing intelligence to move out of the SSP. The IN model also fits well into some next generation telecom architectures, such as those built on IP-based softswitches. There are standards for delivering TCAP over the IP transport, such as the Bellcore GDI interface, which allows IN services to continue to work with little or no modifications. Adjuncts already provide IP connections to IN SLPs, so the migration path to IP-based IN networks is occurring. A common theme among the proposed next-generation architectures is distribution of the functions performed by switching exchanges. The IN model fits into this structure by providing a generic framework for both extending the PSTN and allowing it to interwork with the new architectures.

Of course, there are other intelligent endpoint architectures that provide alternatives to the IN model, such as the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). The point of this chapter is not to debate the merits of which architecture is best but to provide an understanding of the IN architecture, which so heavily depends on SS7 signaling to function.