February 2001

BY GORDON TOWNSEND

The future is user-driven. Communications ASPs know that. Traditional carriers continue to build the "plumbing" of the network and offer static, fixed-rate services over that plumbing. Communications ASPs, on the other hand, understand that the opportunity lies in value-added services. They know that commodity pricing can only result in shrinking margins and the evaporation of customer loyalty. Only through a dynamic response to user demands can a service provider increase the inflow of revenue and stem the outflow of customers.

A challenge for communications ASPs is to differentiate themselves from RBOCs. With RBOCs offering services like Centrex, Communications ASPs need to bring newer, innovative services to market. In this situation, infrastructure decisions are of paramount importance. Whether they lease or outsource their infrastructure, Communications ASPs need to make selections that increase their ability to create differentiated services.

OPEN AND NON-PROPRIETARY
Most communications equipment is closed and proprietary. As a result, the deployment of new applications is held captive to an equipment vendor's priorities. As users increasingly drive the network, the demand will become unrelenting. Only service providers that can respond quickly with innovative offerings will stay in business. Communications ASPs need to invest in infrastructure that frees them from the tyranny of closed, proprietary systems.

Service creation platforms for next-generation service providers are designed to enable competitive differentiation through the rapid creation and delivery of services. An open, programmable IP telephony switching platform provides third-party developers the ability to develop value-added services via an open applications programming interface (API). The open API is a simplified programming language that allows service providers, within weeks, to develop, deploy, and manage new services. Service providers can bring to market voice mail, fax, and call-center services.

In addition to delivering mass-market offerings, service providers can use a programmable switching platform to create special "boutique" services for individual customers. It can offer integrated call detail records (CDR), database management, distributed interactive voice response (IVR), and a real-time, multi-user, Web-accessible billing system.

An open, programmable broadband service creation manager platform provides aggregation, management, and grooming of traffic at the intersection of networks between the network service provider and the content provider. A distributed architecture with separate control and data planes can allow the development of the control plane separately from the data plane.

The significance of this design: Third-party developers can develop innovative applications tailored to specific user requirements, independently or in partnership with net.com. Service providers can control their own destiny, responding to user demands and shortening time to market.

DISTRIBUTED VS. CENTRALIZED
Communications ASPs should invest in a packet-based infrastructure that leverages the power of the Internet. Many equipment offerings are based on a centralized approach with minimal scalability and limited fault tolerance.

A next-generation, distributed architecture offers numerous advantages over first-generation IP telephony systems. Previously, carriers building out a packet telephony network had to rely on multiple vendors' platforms to get the best in IVR, switching, and billing systems. They were forced to rely on centralized call routing processors and gatekeepers that seriously compromised network reliability and efficiency.

In contrast, a distributed platform consolidates multiple telephony functions. Distributed nodes perform trunking, signaling, gatekeeper/call agent functions, and network management within a single node. Routing intelligence is distributed across the network, rather than combined into an expensive, complex, centralized network. In addition to simplifying operations, this distributed architecture achieves greater network resilience by preventing a single point of failure. Also, because the network's intelligence is carried in each node, performance remains consistent regardless of network size.

Separate control and data planes can also offer flexible network control and easy access to service creation capabilities. Control and data planes can be co-located or geographically separate, allowing for one-to-many and many-to-one configurations of control systems and switching fabrics. This structure supports service providers' varying wholesale and retail business models.

SERVICE CREATION IS KEY
In the past, service providers had a limited relationship with their customers. They constructed a network, then offered the built-in services enabled by equipment vendors. The limits of the network determined what services could be delivered. In the new environment, customers drive the network, demanding new ways to work, play, and learn. The intelligence moves out to the edge and provides a link between the customers' needs and the services that meet those needs.

In the new customer-centric world, rapid service creation is the Communications ASP's path to success. Making the right infrastructure investment decisions will help pave the way.

Gordon Townsend is director of marketing at net.com.

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