In July 2006, International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) Study Group 13 initiated the approval process for a batch of framework Recommendations on the Next Generation Network (NGN) Release 1. One of the new Recommendations, Y.2012, illustrates the NGN from the viewpoint of a functional architecture consisting of various functional blocks, namely functional entities. In conjunction with this Recommendation, this paper explains how the NGN can be built and how the NGN utilizes functional entities to provide expected services and required capabilities. This paper also identifies open issues for extending the functional architecture towards Release 2.

Currently there is considerable world-wide speculation regarding the introduction of optical fiber cable into access networks, because optical fiber has a big potential for providing attractive multimedia services. Since optical fiber cable can provide a variety of grade of services, high-reliability of cable networks would be required compared with the conventional copper cable networks. To develop multimedia telecommunication networks as an infrastructure, it is urgent to clarify the highly reliable optical fiber cable network architecture. Since cable network architecture deeply depends on regional conditions such as demand, area size, duct layer networks (consisting of ducts, manholes, tunnels, feeder points etc.), it is necessary to develop a cable network designing tool with user-friendly interfaces for efficiently evaluating cable network architectures. This paper firstly proposes the heuristic algorithms enhanced by the disjoint-shortest-path and the depth-first-search methods that would be applicable for real access networks. Secondly, the design method of highly reliable optical fiber cable network based on the heuristic algorithms in terms of network cost and unavailability caused by cable breakdown is proposed. It can design the combination of star- and loop-shaped (where two diversified routes exist between a feeder point and central office) cable network. Furthermore, comparison with the conventional design method which simply applies star- or loop-shaped cable network is done in terms of economy and reliability on real access networks in the Tokyo metropolitan area. It is concluded that the proposed method can reduce the network cost further and realize a short unavailability value compared with the conventional method.

The cost-effective provision of IP services requires multi-layered traffic engineering to obtain dynamic cooperation between IP and photonic layers. The effective control and management of generalized multi-protocol label-switching (GMPLS) networks is an essential part of this. Huge photonic capacities and the number of IP and photonic networks make it likely that enormous amounts of GMPLS network-related data will have to be managed in the near future. At the same time, routing burdens on individual GMPLS routers are critical because of the strong need for per-path quality of service (QoS). To solve these problems, we propose a hierarchically distributed network-management system (NMS) in which we flexibly allocate a GMPLS subnetwork to each sub-NMS and at the same time conduct QoS routing. The distributed nature of our architecture reduces the burden on the NMS as a whole and also lets us remove the routing-burden from GMPLS routers with minimum effect on management processes.

Video services such as video-on-demand are expected to be a motivation for deploying multimedia services in residential areas. These services should increase customer demand for video channels as customer demands become more sophisticated and diverse in the future. Therefore, it is important to determine how network configurations (i.e. network transition scenarios) should evolve in response to changes in access network demand. This paper proposes economical deployment of access networks based on transition scenarios. We conclude that transition scenarios offer more economical deployment than single-network configurations. Two transition scenarios, from passive double-star to fiber single-star, and from hybrid fiber-coax to fiber single-star, are evaluated as examples. These transition scenarios are economical even when customer demand changes. The transition starting time affects the present worth of annual charges (PWAC) of access networks more than the transition period does.

This paper describes a method of evaluating operations effort for fiber optic subscriber loops, such as the Central Terminal/Remote Terminal (CT/RT) system, which can economically provide a variety of telecommunication services. Four system configurations with different operation procedures are evaluated by simulation. By evaluating the operating costs associated with service provisioning, it is shown that automatic distributing frames are cost effective in subscriber loops with CT/RT systems. Moreover, the most economical operation strategies for installing and extending subscriber boards are discussed in terms of facility and operations cost.