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ATM networks will soon be moving from the experimental stage of test-beds to a commercial state where production networks are deployed and operated. The progress of ATM networks appears to be at risk due to the lack of a universal, open, and efficient ATM network control platform. The emerging Private Network to Network Interface (PNNI) standard introduces a control platform that can be used as an internetwork and possibly as an intra-network solution. However, the current PNNI still falls short in providing an acceptable universal solution, due to lack of performance optimizations for intra-network operation, limited functionality, and the lack of open interfaces for future functional extensions and services.
PENET is a common portable, open, and high-performance network control platform based on performance and functional enhancements to the PNNI standard. It is vendor-independent, scalable (in terms of network size and volume of calls), high-performance (in terms of call processing latency and throughput), and extensible (in terms of integrating customer-specific and value-added services). OPENET is designed as an extension to current PNNI so it can serve as a next generation PNNI. It is compatible with PNNI in the internetworking environment allowing large networks to be partitioned according to natural topological or organizational boundaries rather than the artificial use of internetwork interfaces at vendor boundaries.
This report describes the OPENET architecture. The major novelties of the OPENET architecture compared to the current PNNI are: the use of native ATM switching for the dissemination of utilization updates; lightweight call setup; take down and modification signaling; a new signaling paradigm that better supports fast reservation and multicast services; and a rich signaling infrastructure that enables the development of augmented services (such as mobility, directory, etc.), leveraging the existing functions of the network control platform.
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