Intelligent network traffic management

In the 1990s intelligent networks (INs) will carry and deliver multimedia services, personal communication services (PCS), and other diverse and complex services. These services require multiple triggering within the service switching points (SSP), multiple queries to the service control points (SCPs), and a reliable signaling network. In this environment the risk of overloading the network elements (e.g., SSPs, SCPs) are real and managing the traffic in this environment is a challenge. Overloads may be caused by general widespread loads above engineered levels or focused originating or terminating high-intensity calling (or messaging) levels. The traffic overloads experienced may also be secondary effects of network system failures or major equipment outages. This paper discusses the various overload controls on the network elements and the network management via operations systems (OSs). It analyzes various scenarios and proposes solutions for the network elements and the OSs for managing overloads