Softswitch Design and Performance Analysis

The increasing number of subscribers’ demands in telecommunication sector has motivated the operators to provide high quality of service in cost effective way. Moreover, operators need to have an open structure system so that they can move their systems to the next generation network architecture. For this purpose, Softswitch is an appropriate technology because it is a safe and cost efficient solution and though it can migrate from traditional circuit-switching based telephone system to internet protocol packet-switching based networking. Softswitch network divides the logical switch into several parts with different functions such as signaling gateway, media gateway, media server, etc. Standard communication protocols are implemented between those parts. Softswitch is software-based system to make connection between devices, and moreover to control voice calls, data and routes calls through different entities of the networks. Softswitch supports management functions such as provisioning, fault handling and reporting, billing, operational support, etc. Softswitch suitable for all types of traffic and services so it is very demanding in the competitive world of mobile operators. In this thesis, Softswitch has been studied and analyzed in details. Softswitch network consisted of different integrated modules such as transportation, calling and signaling, service application and management. Each module provides different services such as call control, routing, billing and network management. Each module is discussed from functional and service point of views. Softswitch based wireless network architecture as well as variety of service solutions is presented. Different protocol interfaces in softswitch network such as signaling system number 7 are explained. Moreover, bearer calls, independent call control protocol, gateway control protocol, IP bearer control protocol are explained as well. Variety of softswitch network architectures analysis has been done based on their performance and the applicability. Three Softswitch network architectures are proposed which are validated through simulations.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Transition to SDN is HARMLESS: Hybrid ARchitecture for Migrating Legacy Ethernet Switches to SDN

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) offers a new way to operate, manage, and deploy communication networks and to overcome many long-standing problems of legacy networking. However, widespread SDN adoption has not occurred yet due to the lack of a viable incremental deployment path and the relatively immature present state of SDN-capable devices on the market. While continuously evolving software switches may alleviate the operational issues of commercial hardware-based SDN offerings, namely lagging standards-compliance, performance regressions, and poor scaling, they fail to match the cost-efficiency and port density. In this paper, we propose HARMLESS, a new SDN switch design that seamlessly adds SDN capability to legacy network gear, by emulating the OpenFlow switch OS in a separate software switch component. This way, HARMLESS enables a quick and easy leap into SDN, combining the rapid innovation and upgrade cycles of software switches with the port density and cost-efficiency of hardware-based appliances into a fully dataplane-transparent and vendor-neutral solution. HARMLESS incurs an order of magnitude smaller initial expenditure for an SDN deployment than existing turnkey vendor SDN solutions while, at the same time, yields matching, or even better, data plane performance for smaller enterprises

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Once you are aware of the benefits and applications of Voice over IP, it is too good to resist. Perhaps that is why vendors are flooding the market with VOIP products and services. The following paper analyzes the various issues in the evolving VOIP technology and the challenges in the development of VOIP products. It then presents the features of few VOIP Products offered by the leaders in this field, how well they handle the issues and som

Major: Electronics and Communication Engineering

Today, information technology is strategically important to the goals and aspirations of the business enterprises, government and high-level education institutions – university. Universities are facing new challenges with the emerging global economy characterized by the importance of providing faster communication services and improving the productivity and effectiveness of individuals. New challenges such as provides an information network that supports the demands and diversification of university issues. A new network architecture, which is a set of design principles for build a network, is one of the pillar bases. It is the cornerstone that enables the university’s faculty, researchers, students, administrators, and staff to discover, learn, reach out, and serve society. This thesis focuses on the network architecture definitions and fundamental components. Three most important characteristics of high-quality architecture are that: it’s open network architecture; it’s service-oriented characteristics and is an IP network based on packets. There are four important components in the architecture, which are: Services and Network Management, Network Control, Core Switching and Edge Access. The theoretical contribution of this study is a reference model Architecture of University Campus Network that can be followed or adapted to build a robust yet flexible network that respond next generation requirements. The results found are relevant to provide an important complete reference guide to the process of building campus network which nowadays play a very important role. Respectively, the research gives university networks a structured modular model that is reliable, robust and can easily grow

A framework for abstracting complexities in service delivery platforms

The telecommunication (telco) and Information Technology (IT) industries are converging into a single highly competitive market, where service diversity is the critical success factor. To provide diverse services, the telco network operator must evolve the traditional voice service centric network into a generic service centric network. An appropriate, but incomplete, architecture for this purpose is the Service Delivery Platform (SDP). The SDP represents an IT-based system that simplifies access to telco capabilities using services. SDP services offer technology independent interfaces to external entities. The SDP has vendor-specific interpretations that mix standards-based and proprietary interfaces to satisfy specific requirements. In addition, SDP architectural representations are technology-specific. To be widely adopted the SDP must provide standardised interfaces. This work contributes toward SDP standardisation by defining a technology independent and extendable architecture, called the SDP Framework. To define the framework we first describe telecom-IT convergence and a strategy to manage infrastructure integration. Second, we provide background on the SDP and its current limitations. Third, we treat the SDP as a complex system and determine a viewpoint methodology to define its framework. Fourth, we apply viewpoints by extracting concepts and abstractions from various standard-based telecom and IT technologies: the Intelligent Network (IN), Telecommunication Information Networking Architecture (TINA), Parlay, enhanced Telecommunications Operations Map (eTOM), Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). Fifth, by extending the concepts and abstractions we define the SDP framework. The framework is based on a generic business model and reference model. The business model shows relationships between SDP, telco and external entities using business relationships points. The reference model extends the business model by formalising relationships as reference points. Reference points expand into interfaces exposed by services. Applications orchestrate service functions via their interfaces. Service and application distribution is abstracted by middleware that operates across business model domains. Services, interfaces, applications and middleware are managed in Generic Service Oriented Architectures (GSOA). Multiple layered GSOAs structure the SDP framework. Last, we implement the SDP framework using standard-based technologies with open service interfaces. The implementation proves framework concepts, promotes SDP standardisation and identifies research areas

Vulnerabilities of signaling system number 7 (SS7) to cyber attacks and how to mitigate against these vulnerabilities.

As the mobile network subscriber base exponentially increases due to some attractive offerings such as anytime anywhere accessibility, seamless roaming, inexpensive handsets with sophisticated applications, and Internet connectivity, the mobile telecommunications network has now become the primary source of communication for not only business and pleasure, but also for the many life and mission critical services. This mass popularisation of telecommunications services has resulted in a heavily loaded Signaling System number 7 (SS7) signaling network which is used in Second and Third Generations (2G and 3G) mobile networks and is needed for call control and services such as caller identity, roaming, and for sending short message servirces. SS7 signaling has enjoyed remarkable popularity for providing acceptable voice quality with negligible connection delays, pos- sibly due to its circuit-switched heritage. However, the traditional SS7 networks are expensive to lease and to expand, hence to cater for the growing signaling demand and to provide the seamless interconnectivity between the SS7 and IP networks a new suite of protocols known as Signaling Transport (SIGTRAN) has been designed to carry SS7 signaling messages over IP. Due to the intersignaling between the circuit-switched and the packet-switched networks, the mo- bile networks have now left the “walled garden”, which is a privileged, closed and isolated ecosystem under the full control of mobile carriers, using proprietary protocols and has minimal security risks due to restricted user access. Potentially, intersignaling can be exploited from the IP side to disrupt the services provided on the circuit-switched side. This study demonstrates the vulnerabilities of SS7 messages to cyber-attacks while being trans- ported over IP networks and proposes some solutions based on securing both the IP transport and SCTP layers of the SIGTRAN protocol stack

Real Time Conference Gateway For Heterogeneous Clients : Real Time Switching Clients And Inter-Asterisk Exchange Clients

Various standards organizations have considered signaling for voice and video over Internet Protocol(IP) from different approaches. The Inter-Asterisk eXchange (IAX) protocol is used as the promising VoIP protocol by the service provider because of its simplicity and NAT friendliness. Meanwhile, the Real time SWitching (RSW) has the ability to combine voice and video services. Incidentally, these two heterogeneous clients pose considerable problems for users who have to choose between two solutions offering different advantages and disadvantages. While RSW is being used in many areas, IAX is being deployed in many VoIP services. Hence, RSW interoperability and coexistence with IAX is considered very important to support new deployments that could use RSW as an alternative packet telephony signaling protocol. We proposed and implemented the conference gateway (CG), which enables the heterogeneous clients to communicate seamlessly. It has two modules, one is signaling, the other is media module. In signaling module, we have converted signaling and control messages of RSW and IAX respectively to achieve seamless signaling communication between heterogeneous clients via CG. The signaling module includes authentication of heterogeneous clients (RSW and IAX) before they start communication, conversion of Uniform Resource Indicator to reach remote clients, setup media calls and exchange media capability

On the development of Voice over IP

This record of study documents the experience acquired during my internship at Sonus Networks, Inc. for the Doctor of Engineering Program. In this record of study, I have surveyed and analyzed the current standardization status of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) security and proposed an Internet draft on secure retargeting and response identity. The draft provides a simple and comprehensive solution to the response identity, call recipient identity and intermediate server retargeting problems in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) call setup process. To support product line development and enable product evolution in the quickly growing VoIP market, I have proposed a generic development framework for SIP application servers. The common and open architecture of the framework supports multiple products development and facilitates integration of new service modules. The systematical reuse of proven software design and implementation enables companies to reduce the development cost and shorten the time-to-market. As the development and diffusion of VoIP can never be isolated from the social sphere, I have investigated the current status, influence and interaction of three most important factors: standardization, market forces and government regulation on the development and diffusion of VoIP. The worldwide deregulation and market privatization have caused the transition of the standards development model. This transition in turn influences the market diffusion. Other than standardization, market forces including customer needs, the revenue pressure on carriers and vendors, competitive and economic environment, social culture and regulation uncertainties create both threats and opportunities. I have examined market drivers and obstacles in the current VoIP adoption stage, analyzed current VoIP market players and their strategies, and predicted the direction of VoIP business. The regulation creates the macro environment in which VoIP develops and diffuses. I have explored modern telecommunications regulation principles based on which government makes decisions on most current issues, including 911 support, mergers and acquisitions, interconnection obligation and leasing rights, rate structure and universal service fees