City University

Department of Computer Science & Engineering

Assignment On

Assignment Name: The Impact of all IP Networks on Convergence in the

Telecommunications Industry

Course title: Computer Networks

Course code: CSE 317

Submitted To

Tarek Shahriar

Lecturer, Department of CSE

City University

Submitted By

Rakibul Hossain Rakib

ID: 173462038

Batch: 46th

Section: A
Department of CSE

Submission Date: Signature:

27 Aug. 2020
 Introduction

IP and Internet infrastructure together with broadband networking are at a key

moment in their development. Technological innovation, stimulated through
digitalization, has been a major factor in driving change in the communications
market. This innovation is reducing costs and enhancing the capability of
networks to support new services and applications.

A key innovation which is expected to bring further significant changes in the

communications market is the transformation from circuit-based public
switched telecommunication networks to packet-based networks using the
Internet Protocol, so-called next generation networks (NGN).

Telecom operators specialize in the provision of information and

communication (IC) services. For a long time, they have the potential to
provide traditional services, including voice and text messages, which are being
constantly improved, primarily due to the progress in information and
communication technologies (ICT).

The progress in ICT and the offer of IC services in recent years is related to the
implementation and development of internet. In consequence the traditional
offer of IC services is extended by innovative services enabling the transmission
of voice, data and images. At the same time, these services are starting to be
provided not only by telecom operators but also by other entities, in particular
the so-called Over the Top (OTT) operators, including Google, Face book,
Amazon etc.

The progress in information and communication technologies (ICT) and the

offer of information and communication (IC) services in recent years is strong
connected with the development of Internet. Next to traditional telecom
operators new service providers are from different branches are beginning to
appear on this market. In consequence, this leads to growing competition in
the area of providing innovative information and communication services.

The convergence of telecommunications and computing has been noted and

commented on for some time. However, there is a much richer
interrelationship at present than at any time in the past. In fact, we will argue
that the very terms "telecommunications" and "computing" are losing their
relevance as separate identities, and also that these fields will become virtually
indistinguishable in the relatively near future. This paper builds on our brief
summary of technological trends in the industry in.

Why should we care? The convergence has, and will continue to have,
profound impact on technology, industry, and the larger society. The
traditional fields of telecommunications and computing have already been
irreparably changed by the other, and, as we argue below, will be even more
substantially recast in the future. We argue that much more profound changes
are forthcoming, changes no less weighty than the rapid disintegration of the
vertically integrated industrial model (from silicon to applications). Finally,
while computing in the absence of communications has led to new applications
and made substantive changes to leisure and work life, computing in
conjunction with communications will have a profoundly greater impact on
society. This is because communications is at the heart of what makes a society
and a civilization, and the convergence with computing will revolutionize the
nature of that communication.

What are Telecommunications and what is computing:

The term telecommunications are derived from "tele", meaning at a distance,
and "communications", meaning exchanging of information. The dictionary
definition of telecommunications is "communication at a distance (as by
telephone)"and the term is most commonly applied to the telephone, but also
applications like video conferencing. At its origin, the computer was envisioned
as a machine to perform massive numerical calculations. Indeed, this is the
origin of the term "computer", as "something that can compute". Later, with
the development of large peripheral storage devices, the computer became a
repository of large amounts of data that could be modified, manipulated, and
queried. This is reflected in the current dictionary definition of the computer,
as "a programmable electronic device that can store, retrieve, and process
data". These classical views of telecommunications and computing are well
differentiated with respect to applications.

Recently, the infrastructure and applications for these technologies have

become seriously blurred. In both the network (embodied in
the Internet and asynchronous transfer mode, or ATM) and the desktop
computer, data has become integrated with continuous media (audio and
video), enabling so-called multimedia applications. Applications are becoming
blurred as well. Accessing bank records using a DTMF telephone and voice
response unit, or with a networked computer over a computer network, differs
as to medium but not basic functionality. Thus, the classical terminology of
telecommunications and computing is no longer as useful, and possibly even
delusory. In light of this, it is appropriate to define a more transparent
classification of networked applications that is media-blind, and focuses on the
functionality provided the user.

 Three-Level Architecture:
As an aid to understanding, we adopt the three-level model of Figure 1, similar
to that proposed in. We define an application as a collection of functionality
that provides value to a user (a person). In this paper we are concerned
with networked applications, implying that they are distributed across a
distributed telecommunications and computing environment. Examples of
networked applications are electronic mail, telephony, database access, file
transfer, World Wide Web browsing, and video conferencing. A service is
defined as functionality of a generic or supportive nature, provided as a part of
a computing and telecommunications infrastructure that is available for use in
building all applications. Examples of services would be audio or video
transport, file-system management, printing, electronic payment mechanisms,
encryption and key distribution, and reliable data delivery. Bit ways are
network mechanisms for transporting bits from one location to another.
Examples of bit ways with sufficient flexibility for integrated multimedia
applications are Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) or internets interfaced
with the Internet Protocol (IP).

Two Architectures for Networked Applications:

Networked applications are physically realized by terminal nodes (or just
terminals) interconnected by bit ways. Functionally there are two basic
architectures available for networked services, as illustrated in Figure 2:

 Peer-to-peer architecture, in which two (or more) peer terminals, each

associated with a local user, communicates over a bit way to provide a
user-to-user networked application. The networked communications
 component between peers is often symmetrical (in terms of both
functionality and bit way resources).
 Client-server architecture, in which a client terminal associated with a
user, communicates over the bit way with a server computer, which is
not associated directly with a user, but rather realizes an information-
server function. The functionality is often asymmetric, with the server
embodying the primary functionality or database access and the client
terminal focusing on the user interface. (As will be described later, this
partitioning is rapidly shifting.) The communications component is also
often asymmetric, with the server-to-client direction typically requiring
much higher bandwidth.

Often the peer or client terminal functions will be realized in software in a

desktop computer, or they may be dedicated-function terminals (like a
telephone or video conference set). For simplicity, we will refer to "peers",
"clients", and "servers", without the associated terms "terminal" or
"computer". Note that the terminal vs. bit way is (primarily)
a physical partitioning of functionality between a terminal at the edges of the
bit way, and the bit way itself. The three-level architecture of Figure 1 is
a logical separation of functionality, where application functionality will
typically physically reside in the terminals, and services functionality may
reside in the terminals or somewhere within the bit way.

Figure 2:  A comparison of client-server and peer-to-peer architectures for

networked applications.
A user-to-information-server application is always realized with the client-
server architecture. As shown in Figure 2, many clients will typically access a
single server, which provides functionally separated but time-shared services
to the clients. On the other hand, a user-to-user application can be realized in
either the peer-to-peer or client-server architectures, as illustrated in Figure
3 (for two users). In the client-server architecture, the two clients are
communicating through the server, which may be realizing additional
application or control functionality.

Figure 3:  A user-to-user application can be realized by either the client-server

or the peer-to-peer architecture.

Internet as an Innovative Information and Communications

Technology:
Internet is a new information and communication technology. Definitions
presented in the literature are usually limited to showing its network
character. The most common are the following two ways to define the Internet
as:

 A network of networks based on the TCP / IP protocol.

 A network connecting computers based on the TCP / IP standard.

Definitely less often in the literature you can find a broader definition of the
Internet, which presents it as:
  A collection of offered services and applications that enable the
transmission of information and data, as well as the information and
data itself,
 A set of users using the shared networks and the offered services and
applications that enable the transmission of data and information.
Examples of such Internet coverage are definitions presented by:
 E. Kroll and E. Hoffman, who, while presenting the concept of the
Internet, indicate that in addition to technical components, it is
necessary to take into account the provided information and the
potential of people using the technical tools as well as provided
information,
 J. Wielki, who indicates the need to consider the Internet from three
following points of view:
 Technical - as a network based on the TCP / IP protocol,
 Social - people using internet networks,
 Practical - including the pool of knowledge, information and
services that can be obtained through a particular network.

An important effect of using the Internet is certain us abilities affecting the way
entities operate in the area of economic and social life. These include, in
particular:

 Interactivity, that:

 enables individual selection, matching and use of content

available on the Internet, which ensures maximum usability for
individual Internet users,
 can be reduced to a simple, single contact as well as an extensive,
repeatable dialogue between multiple users,
 that the desired information can be obtained by the users at the
most appropriate time, which results in obtaining information that
is particularly valuable,
 To find the most convenient connection time between entities
that want to communicate with each other or cooperate.
Basic Reasons for Using Internet by Telecom Operators:
The growing demand for internet services in connection with the necessary
role of telecommunications networks in order to ensure universal access to
these services leads to transformations in the structure of telecommunications
networks especially as a result of adapting existing networks to the IP standard
and building modern networks meeting these standards. Activities leading to
the use of IP-based networks are provided not only by telecom operators
(stationary and mobile), but also by other operators, especially the Internet
and cable television ones. The consequence of these activities is entering the
next stage of network convergence, including various information and
communication networks, including in particular networks of telecom, internet
and cable television operators. The emerging convergent information and
communication networks allow to offer a wide range of services, including:

 classic telecommunications services (e.g. voice telephony, SMS),

 classic internet services (e.g. information services obtained from
websites as well as communication services, such as VoIP, chat rooms),
 Internet services requiring networks with higher quality parameters (e.g.
audio and video services). Listed services, being at the same time,
modern substitutes for classic telephony and television services, are
beginning to exert strong pressure on traditional activity areas of
telecom and cable television operators.

This means that the development of the Internet leads to the acceleration of
convergence processes in the area of information and communication
networks, information and communication services and end devices used by
users of information and communication services. These processes overlap,
accelerating their further development direction. In graphical terms, this is
shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4: The basic areas of progressive convergence associated with the
development of the Internet.

The Impact of Mobile Telephony:

The incremental benefits of next generation mobile telephony services, such as
3G technology and mobile data services, on economics growth have not been
fully explored yet.

Mobile telephony has transformed the way in which consumers and business
operate in developing markets. As fixed lines often remain undeveloped and
unavailable to the majority of the population in developing markets, mobile
services have often become the universal providers of communication services.

Total mobile penetration has more than double in all regions of the world since
2005, which can be attributing to numerous factors including a fall in handset
and usage cost and an improvement in service quality and network coverage.
These significant penetration increases have made a basic mobile service that
is voice, texts and basic text-related services available to billions of people
across all income level.
 Convergence
The path towards convergence was led mainly by the increasing digitalization
of content, the shift towards IP-based networks, the diffusion of high-speed
broadband access, and the availability of multi-media communication and
computing devices. Convergence is taking place at different levels:

 Network convergence: driven by the shift towards IP-based broadband

networks. It includes fixed-mobile convergence and ‘three-screen
convergence’ (mobile, TV and computer).
 Service convergence – stemming from network convergence and
innovative handsets, which allows the access to web-based applications,
and the provision of traditional and new value-added services from a
multiplicity of devices.
 Industry/market convergence – brings together in the same field
industries such as information technology, telecommunication, and
media, formerly operating in separate markets.
 Legislative, institutional and regulatory convergence – or at least co-
operation – taking place between broadcasting and telecommunication
regulation. Policy makers are considering converged regulation to
address content or services independently from the networks over
which they are provided (technology neutral regulation).
 Device convergence – most devices include today a microprocessor, a
screen, storage, input device and some kind of network connection –
increasingly they provide multiple communication functions and
applications.
  Converged user experience: unique interface between end-users and
telecommunications, new media, and computer technologies.

The process towards convergence has been based on an evolution of

technologies and business models, rather than a revolution. This process has
led to:

 Entry of new players into the market.

 Increasing competition among players operating in different
markets.
 The necessity for traditional operators to co-operate with
companies previously in other fields.

Convergence: IP Technology and its Regulatory Implications:

Since the early 1980s, one of the major objectives of the telecom sector has
been the establishment of one network infrastructure, with the ability to
integrate all available and future services, today denoted as infrastructure
convergence. This was mainly based on the recognition of inefficiency
regarding operation and management of dedicated network technologies for
different applications/services; like PSTN for voice telephony, FDDI/frame
relay/X25, etc. for data services and specific broadband networks for video
telephony. In this process the idea of ISDN (Integrated Services Digital
Networks) and Broadband ISDN (B-ISDN) was born and in the late 1980s, B-
ISDN based on ATM was seen as a revolution in the telecom sector as well as
academia. The IT sector was aware of this development and their agenda was
to be part of this integrated communication infrastructure of the future, their
suggestion was the IP protocol and the Internet. The IT industry didn’t want
the telecom industry to single-handed decide on the technology and structure
of future networks. The telecom network architectures were seen to be
inflexible and ineffective when it came to service development, innovation and
competition. The claim was that the B-ISDN project was based on the
incumbent telecoms’ huge interest in continuing to control the value
proposition, opposite to the Internet, which is based on an open platform.
From a technological point of view the Internet Protocol (IP) is a key driver of
this development. However, the convergence process also takes, place at
content, service, market and regulatory levels. The aim of this section is to
examine the technical features underlying VoIP service in a convergence
perspective and to identify the regulatory implications of this technology. In
the following, first the two major developments, which have been
preconditions for VoIP are described; the Internet itself, and the development
of broadband infrastructures. Later the VoIP technology is described and the
regulatory implications are identified.

Convergence is about services and about new ways of doing business and
interacting with society. Whether at home, at the office, or in the classroom,
people enjoy the conveniences and entertainment brought by convergence
like video-on-demand, interactive television, the Internet, personal digital
assistants, and so on. Examples of products and services being delivered
include:

Home-banking and home-shopping over the Internet,

 Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP);

 E-mail, data and World Wide Web access over mobile phone networks,
and the use of wireless links to homes and businesses to connect them to
the fixed telecommunications networks;
 Data services over digital broadcasting platforms;
 On-line services combined with television via systems such as Web-TV,
as well as delivery via digital satellites and cable modems;
 Webcasting of news, sports, concerts and of other audiovisual services
 

Internet Protocol (IP) and the Internet:

The emergence of the Internet, which is based on the IP protocol, is considered
as one of the most radical innovations in the communication field in the recent
years. IP technology is designed in a way that enables a radically different
environment for service development, innovation and competition, both when
it comes to infrastructure platforms and service development platforms. In the
following some of the important characteristics of IP platforms are outlined:
  IP technology is based on a distributed network architecture, where
routing and intelligence are distributed in the network.
 In the IP networks, signaling and data transmission are integrated in the
same network.
 The service provision is disintegrated from infrastructure operation and
the terminals attached at the edges of the network can create and offer
services.
 The service development platforms have mainly been open.

These characteristics of the technology create good conditions for

development and competition where several actors can be involved in service
creation and provision. The general Internet is the major IP network in the
world but it is far from the only IP network. In recent years, several private IP
networks have been established and utilized for both corporate and residential
services, and the future of communication platforms, namely the Next
Generation Internet architecture is based mainly on IP technology. The private
IP networks mainly have the same characteristics as the general Internet,
however with a vital difference which is the possibility of establishing certain
levels of quality of service (QoS) within these networks. This enables the
providers of private IP networks to offer high quality services to their
customers. QoS in the IP based networks is implemented by allocation and
reservation of capacity for different services following predefined prioritization
schemes. The main deployment of QoS is, nevertheless, connected to the
introduction and development of IP version 6 (the advanced or next generation
IP), which enables end-to-end QoS provision.

Internet and NGN (Next Generation Networks):

Technological developments associated with next generation networks should
help combine the characteristics of the traditional telecommunication model,
and of the new Internet model, dissolving the current divisions and moving
towards a harmonized and coherent approach across different platforms,
gradually bringing to full convergence fixed and mobile networks, voice, data
services, and broadcasting sectors. In short, in the future the choice of the
technology used for the infrastructure or for access will no longer have an
impact on the kinds and variety of services that are delivered. This however
does not reflect the current situation, where the two worlds still have different
visions and commercial models (Figure 2).

The telecommunications tradition emphasizes the benefits of higher capacity

local fiber access facilities, and powerful network intelligence. Access in this
context should be simple and reliable, with centralized network management
and control to guarantee the seamless provision of a wide range of services,
bundled network-content-applications offers, and one-stop shop solutions. On
the other hand, the Internet world traditionally focuses on edge innovation
and control over network use, user empowerment, freedom to choose and
create applications and content, open and unfettered access to networks,
content, services and applications. Freedom at the edges is considered more
important than superior speed of managed next generation access networks.
Indeed, the “Internet” still represents different things to different people, and
next generation networks are seen as both a possibility for improved services
or as a way to constrain the Internet into telecommunication boundaries,
adding new control layers, capable of discriminating between different
content, and “monetize” every single service accessed. Services provided over
next generation networks will differ from services currently provided over the
public Internet which is based on a “best effort” approach, where the quality of
transmission may vary depending on traffic loading and congestion in the
network, while with NGN packet delivery is enhanced with Multi-Protocol
Label Switching (MPLS). This allows operators to ensure a certain degree of
Quality of Service similar to the more constant quality of circuit switched
networks through traffic prioritization, resource reservation, and other
network-based control techniques, as well as to optimize network billing as in
circuit-switched transport.
 Figure: The convergence model

The concept of network-based control seems to be the main difference

between the public internet approach and next generation managed IP
networks approach. NGN offers the possibility to provide a detailed service
control and security from within the network, so that networks are aware of
both the services that they are carrying and the users for whom they are
carrying them, and are able to respond in different ways to this information. In
contrast, the Internet aims to provide basic transmission, remaining unaware
of the packets/services supported. While the Internet model remains therefore
completely open to users and new applications and services, in managed IP
networks operators are able to control the content going through the network
[33]. In turn, this may have negative implications for the content of third-party
providers if their traffic is discriminated against in relation to that of an
integrated operator.
Development of Broadband:
Broadband is a precondition for the success of high-quality VoIP services and
real complementarily and competitiveness with regular telephony. The
development of information and communication technologies in recent
decades has been primarily dominated by three main paradigms:

1. Development and deployment of efficient technologies for data

communication; here the Internet Protocol (IP) has proven its
dominance;
2. The integration of different services in one and the same network,
driven by the fact that operation and maintenance of different dedicated
networks for different services is not optimal based on techno-economic
assessment.
3. Emergence of different mobile and wireless networks, driven by the
need for mobility, flexibility and short time to market.

Broadband was developed initially within the first paradigm and was an answer
to the demand at the consumer side for high speed connections, primarily for
improved quality access to the Internet. The development tendency, which we
are witnessing now and which is likely to continue in the future is that the
broadband development expands in scope and more and more is a part of the
two other paradigms. Broadband infrastructures offer, Internet access, other
known services like regular telephony and TV/video distribution, as well as
possibilities for new services like the intelligent/smart home services.
Developments in mobile and wireless networks are also to a high degree
influenced by broadband development, both when it comes to the mobile 2G
and 3G and the development within the wireless technologies like Wi-Fi and
WiMAX. Developments in the wireless networks are especially important as
they can be seen as competitive as well as complementary to fixed broadband.
The possibility for leapfrogging to mobile access to Internet services is a
potential major opportunity for less developed regions. Here development of a
fixed public service telephone network (PSTN) is no longer a precondition for
public voice services. Any IP networks, including networks based on Wi-Fi and
WiMAX, can be used to offer Voice service.
The convergence of IT, CT, and web capabilities:

Figure: 4

Dynamic connections of ICT services:

Figure: 5
Computing from a user’s perspective:

Figure: 6

Cloud computing has reshaped the IT industry. The new cloud model for
computing storage and network resource management uses a distributed
computing architecture to reshape the traditional single server com- putting
architecture. This new computing model adopts two key technologies
distribution and virtualization to decouple software and service and help move
data centers and services into the cloud. Resource sharing in the cloud
increases the utilization and flexibility of resources, significantly accelerates
service deployment, and improves processing capabilities. Cloud computing
also points CT in a new direction that goes beyond pipes to exploring the value
of broad- band for handling the large datasets that cloud computing can store
and transmit. We think of the cloud as an information factory that is now
overturning the traditional business models of software, hardware, and media
to transform user focus from purchasing products to purchasing services. Not
only is cloud computing desirable from a user’s perspective, but it also enables
IT and CT to enhance and transform each other (Box 1).
 CONCLUSION
Several factors have contributed to the rapid convergence of IT and CT,
including widespread mobile phone penetration, innovations in smart devices,
and the advent of cloud computing. As ICT convergence gains momentum,
multiple networks will continue to converge, using a combination of IP and
optical technology to drive down costs and improve the user experience.
Technology innovations at the level of cloud, pipe, and device are stimulating
new industries to meet the expectations of consumers and enterprises for
integrated services. As ICT convergence advances, integrated smart devices will
gain prominence in homes and enterprises. These devices will use the cloud to
support popular services and applications. Consumers will interact with each
other and access information in new ways, providing the impetus for new
businesses such as mobile phone–based shopping and payment services. ICT
convergence will free employees from the office setting and boost production
efficiency with collaborative tools such as videoconferencing that allow widely
dispersed employees to come together as a single team. Governments can play
a key role in facilitating ICT convergence by creating a framework that
promotes competition and innovation. New policies and the removal of
regulatory restrictions can help stakeholders of all sizes expand their
opportunities while improving access to information for residents in remote
regions. Beyond policy reform, governments can stimulate investments
through financial incentives. They can even directly invest in infrastructure and
services as a way to empower their citizens and remain competitive with other
countries. This three-stage process reform policy, provide incentives, invest in
infrastructure and services provides a roadmap to economic development by
encouraging technological innovation and meeting market demand.

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