A Nationwide Pilot Architecture for Testing Next Generation Networks

In this paper we describe design and implementation of a next generation network (NGN) pilot which is a testbed used to test different services, features, protocols, etc that can be delivered or used in NGN. This Pilot is considered as a part of Iran telecommunications 5-year master plan which is going to migrate to NGN networks. The process of implementing an architecture that can be used as a testbed is described. The testbed network is used for deploying NGN services in order to verify protocols and features implementation. The architecture of the testbed also allows testing and evaluating devices from different vendors in various scenarios resulting in two distinct environments called silo (single-vendor) and interoperability (multi-vendor). Four vendors have been invited to participate in Pilot and their NGN equipments have been tested.