| The
Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) is a telephone network architecture that
separates service logic from switching equipment, allowing new services to
be added without having to redesign switches to support new services. It
encourages competition among service providers since it makes it easier for
a provider to add services and it offers customers more service choices. |
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| Developed
by Bell Communications Research, AIN is recognized as an industry standard
in North America. Its initial version, AIN Release 1, is considered a model
toward which services will evolve. Meanwhile, evolutionary subsets of AIN
Release 1 have been developed. These are shown in the
AIN Release Table below.
Elsewhere, the International Telecommunications Union (see
ITU-T), endorsing the concepts of AIN, developed an equivalent version
of AIN called Capability Set 1 (CS-1). It comes in evolutionary subsets
called the Core INAP capabilities. |
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| How It
Works |
| Briefly,
here's how AIN Release 1 works: |
| |
| 1: A
telephone caller dials a number that is received by a
switch at the telephone company central office. |
| 2: The
switch - known as the Service Switching Point (SSP) - forwards the call over
a Signaling System 7 (SS7)
network to a Service Control Point (SCP) where the service logic is located. |
| 3: The
Service Control Point identifies the service requested from part of the
number that was dialed and returns information about how to handle the call
to the Service Switching Point. Examples of services that the SCP might
provide include area number calling service, disaster recovery service, do
not disturb service, and 5-digit extension dialing service. |
| 5: In
some cases, the call can be handled more quickly by an Intelligent
Peripheral (IP) that is attached to the Service Switching Point over a
high-speed connection. For example, a customized voice announcement can be
delivered in response to the dialed number or a voice call can be analyzed
and recognized. |
| 5: In
addition, an "adjunct" facility can be added directly to the Service
Switching Point for high-speed connection to additional, undefined services. |
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| One of
the services that AIN makes possible is Local Number Portability (LNP). |
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|
The AIN Release Table |
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| AIN Release |
Capabilities |
| Release 0 |
Trigger checkpoints at off-hook, digit collection
and analysis, and routing points of call
Code gapping to check for overload conditions at SCP
75 announcements at the switching system
Based on ANSI TCAP issue 1 |
| Release 0.1 |
Adds a formal call model that distinguishes the
originating half of the call from the terminating half
Additional triggers
254 announcements at the switching system
Based on ANSI TCAP issue 2 |
| Release 0.2 |
Adds Phase 2 Personal Communication Service (PCS)
support
Voice Activated Dialing (VAD)
ISDN-based SSP-IP interface
Busy and no-answer triggers
Next events list processing at SCP
Default routing |
| Release 1 |
A full set of capabilities |
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