Inter-Network
Gateway
Inter-Network
Gateway
The telecommunications infrastructure landscape is comprised of:
- Many different protocols, protocol variants and network technologies;
- A plethora of different enabler and supplementary equipment with different interfaces
As additional technologies, networks and protocols have been added, interworking within and across network technology boundaries has become more complex, challenging and of course, necessary. For example, CDMA users with dual-mode (CDMA/GSM) phones want to be able to roam onto GSM networks, Dual-mode (WiFi SIP/GSM) phone users wish to choose between VoIP and GSM depending on the available coverage etc.
Rhino IM-SSF and R-IM-SSF are two specific examples of inter-network gateway. They use the multi-protocol, convergent capabilities of Rhino Application Server to provide all the logic that is necessary to bridge between the two network types.
Rhino Application Server is ideally equipped to help operators meet the challenge of achieving service layer convergence and connecting equipment across the technology, network and protocol divides. Unlike other technologies, Rhino Application Server is designed:
- To provide an asynchronous, event-driven paradigm essential for person to person communications protocols
- To meet the stringent availability, latency and volume characteristics of telecommunications service layer equipment
- To provide full native support for all networks and protocols – today’s predominant SS7-based ones and IP-based ones
- To provide an extensible, pluggable “Resource Adapter” architecture so that additional proprietary & standards-based protocols can be added
- For real-time charging of telecommunication services
- Provides a Java-based OO development environment which facilitates efficient creation of protocol variants by re-using proven components
- Provides a rich set of service run-time capabilities for telecommunications in-network protocols & services, such as concurrency control and asynchronous event handling
- To implement a robust & coherent failure model which is applied to all hosted services
- To enable the use of commercial-off-the-shelf hardware, OS and software platform within the service layer of the network
- To comply with an open standard that was specified for the purpose and is actively developed by a community of interested parties rather than a proprietary initiative
The approach is not limited to communication service protocols. It can just as readily be used to convert between the proprietary on-line charging protocols of some real-time rating engines and industry standard protocols such as CAP and Diameter, for example.