icbnet

The convergence, between fixed, mobile (circuit- or packet-switched) and Internet systems in the service plane, is nowadays an imperative need, for Next Generation Networks. Service homogenization becomes a big challenge since each network features specific characteristics and exposes its own peculiarities. Novel open architectures and approaches correlate with the tension of decreasing divergence between networks while trying to verify that advanced applications and services can operate successfully across different networks. Within the paper, a suggested middleware architecture, based on open and technology-independent Application Programming Interfaces, which could constitute the potential foundation for fruitful networks’ homogenization and openness in service level, is described and analyzed. In addition, a distributed implementation of such an approach is presented, examining deep technical aspects for call-related and location-based services.