Ray: With Franklin working on their insertion of SS7, SUN is JAINing to get in to>
New Telephony Players
An emerging generation of applications for
telecommunications networks could dramatically
expand the types, and quality, of service that
communications providers can offer customers.
And two relative outsiders to the telecom
industry--Microsoft Corp. and Sun Microsystems
Inc.--are maneuvering to play an important role in the
evolution of these advanced services.
At Supercomm '98 here last week, both companies,
along with a handful of partners supporting their
respective frameworks, introduced new telephony
initiatives. In each case, the goal is to connect the
Internet with traditional phone networks and create
advanced data and voice services.
Both companies have a long way to go before
customers will see the fruits of these efforts. But the
potential for each is great.
With its JAIN (Java Advanced Intelligent Network)
initiative, Sun hopes to leverage the portability of its
Java language to create cross-platform and
cross-network telecom services. The Palo Alto,
Calif., company is developing a set of JavaBeans to
help providers of telecommunications service and
equipment build applications that integrate intelligent
network and Internet technologies.
JAIN will provide a common interface layer for SS7
(Signaling System 7), which enables intelligent voice
functions such as call forwarding and caller ID. But
while SS7 is an international standard, protocol
stacks and applications based on it are not
compatible; Java would add a layer allowing them to
interoperate.
"JAIN is great," said Robert Rich, senior vice
president of telecommunications research at The
Yankee Group Inc., in Boston. "It's not something
that's going to happen tomorrow, but what's
interesting is the portability beyond the classic
network."
Three developers of SS7 protocol stacks--ADC
NewNet, of Shelton, Conn.; DGM&S Telecom, of
Mount Laurel, N.J.; and Ericsson InfoTech, of
Stockholm, Sweden--announced support for JAIN
at the show. The 1.0 release of JAIN is due by the
end of the summer, with the first products based on
the technology expected by the end of the year, said
Paul Tempest-Mitchell, Sun's manager of systems
engineering.
Sun is also likely to gain a JAIN ally in Lucent
Technologies Inc. Last week, the two companies
announced an alliance to offer packaged products
and services for Internet service and other network
providers.
While Sun has courted Lucent, Microsoft has sidled
up to Northern Telecom Ltd. The network
equipment provider last week endorsed Windows
NT Server as the platform for a new series of
Internet telephony applications.
Microsoft is lining up partners for other telephony
initiatives as well. The Redmond, Wash., company's
new Active OSS (Operations Support System)
framework enables companies to extend or build
new OSSes, which carriers use for applications such
as customer service, billing and network operations.
Active OSS largely uses existing Microsoft
technology, primarily Component Object Model.
Deloitte & Touche LLC is working with Microsoft
on OSS technology and last week announced its
OSS Transformation framework for adding
self-service functions to OSSes. A key part of the
Marietta, Ga., company's framework is a
browser-based interface that will enable users to
perform, via the Internet, customer service and other
functions that currently must be managed over the
phone. |
