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With a development of the Internet and mobile communications, the problem of a unified service space creation becomes more and more urgent. Today, users does not want just to receive wired and mobile services but they want to receive the same services in the same manner while moving between fixed location and mobile access points and switching between various terminal types.
A solution of this problem needs a close integration of various telecommunication networks, systems and services. In the last years, significant progress in this area has appeared resulting in a development and implementation of universal terminals and adapters, multi-service access points, cross-network gateways and the project of unified new generation access network (NGN) that is completely ready to provide all kinds of infocommunication services. Undoubtedly, all this developments are very important for future infocommunication development but they provide integration only at the low (technological) level. At the same time, implemented addressing systems and usage guidelines of various services stay different and dissociated at the high (user) level.
Unlike these developments, the SI technology has its goal rather in a high-level, human-oriented integration of telecommunication networks, systems and services (Fig. 24) than in their expansive replacement or upgrade. This technology does not only provide building of unified user service space but also provides unification of usage guidelines for various services regardless of various types of user terminals, access points and telecommunication networks used.
Fig. 24. SI functional architecture.
The SI technology is suitable for packet-switched networks like the Internet as well as for circuit-switched networks like the phone network. It also allows the seamless integration of these diverse networks. There is also the distributed multilevel architecture for supporting a great number of customers (users, organizations, base and value-added services, information resource and systems) on a wide area. This technology provides interaction of multiple distributed servers operating as a single information system.
One of the most important advantages of the SI technology is absolutely new, high-level approach to providing mobility that allows users to preserve their own natural addresses while switching between various communication devices and moving between various fixed location and wireless access points, telecommunication networks and service operators.
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