A feature-interaction benchmark for IN and beyond

It is argued that the goal of the intelligent network (IN) is to accelerate the introduction of new telecommunications features in a multisupplier competitive environment. One major roadblock to fulfilling such requirements is the feature interaction problem-a new feature may interact with existing features in some undesirable ways, resulting in adverse behavior. Feature interaction examples are categorized by their causes, since problems arising from the same cause may have the same solution. These examples and taxonomies are developed to improve understanding of the problem´s scope and to provide a benchmark for analyzing the coverage of a proposed approach to solving the problem. Informal definitions of the concepts given, feature, service, and feature interaction, are presented. Prototypical examples of feature interactions and their categorization by causes are also presented. Possible approaches to the problem are discussed.<>