AIN service creation and issues

Summary form only given, as follows. As second-generation AIN implementations go into operation in networks around the world, the focus of attention continues to move towards the service creation environment and services. The vision of rapid service delivery, customer programmability, and vendor independence promised by AIN is still not a reality. In addition to this is the growing vision of common capabilities to serve both the fixed and wireless networks. The industry is busy with efforts in standardization, sophisticated GUIs, and APIs to come up with capabilities that will meet this vision. The key lies in the ability to build services relatively easily from basic, reusable building blocks. This concept is widely accepted and products are available today, but continued development to meet customer expectations is the order for the day. This paper provides an overview of expectations encountered in the industry and the approach taken by NEC America to meet these expectations