A futuristic service architecture for personal interactive communications

The authors discuss an architecture for providing telecommunication services in a way that: does not require the deployment and provisioning of services inside the telecommunication network; does not limit the services to be offered to advanced billing or routing capabilities, but also allows for cheap and advanced interactive voice services; allows for customized management of network resources such as voice resources or switching resources; clearly separates the activities of operating a network and providing advanced interactive value-added services; and drastically simplifies the network protocols required to deliver whatever service. This service architecture finds particular application in the delivery of advanced, interactive services that require customized call control logic and management of resources. The architecture is called V-SHOP^TM or Voice Services Home Page. The following aspects are discussed: the impact on network resource management and usage; technology requirements (for example, standard virtual machines); the impact on service management and billing systems; the impact on network structure and business organizations; the roles of standards; and the benefits to service and network operators and end-users