A new approach to service intelligence supported by ATM

The main objective of the asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is to provide flexible broadband transport resources such that multimedia calls can be created in a simple manner. The goal of intelligent networks (IN) is to realize a control network that is completely separated from the transport network. The ATM control architecture does not incorporate the enhanced control services envisaged by IN. Therefore, a synergy of ATM and IN presents a possible solution for the telecommunication network of the future. However, certain control services logically belong to the terminals and are also easier to implement in the terminals. Moreover, the complexity of IN does not allow a rapid merger of both concepts. Therefore, a migration of some of the control service intelligence from the network into the terminals is proposed. The terminal developed at the Alcatel Bell Telephone RC is presented. This terminal demonstrates the power of the ATM network, and has an architecture which allows an easy introduction of enhanced control services in the terminal. The analogy between this architecture and the concepts that are introduced by IN is shown