Java-based service creation

The Java-based Service Creation (JSC) platform project was a joint effort between the IBM Haifa, Watson, and Zurich Research Labs and the IBM Telecommunications Industry Solutions Unit. The goal was to build a prototype platform solution for Service Providers that enables them to create, execute, and manage hybrid services (services spanning multiple, existing as well as forthcoming network technologies). Also supported are services that integrate emerging Internet Service Provider (ISP) applications with the legacy telecommunications infrastructure. The project has been conducted in collaboration with a leading European telecommunication service provider.

The JSC platform consists of three functional groups: the Service Creation Environment (SCE), the Service Management Environment (SME), and the Service Execution Environment (SEE). The Zurich group has assumed responsibility for the architecture and prototype implementation of the SEE. Its main function is to provide a flexible Java runtime environment on which advanced services can be executed in a scalable and reliable manner. The overall architecture is centered around a distributed interprocess and internode communication mechanism called Notification and Synchronization Service (NaSS). This service supports a publish / subscribe paradigm which allows anonymous communication between a large set of generic Service Nodes (SN). A Service Node hosts Service Agents and gives them access to one or more core services. Core services are functions that are either implemented as part of a Service Node or provide access to existing infrastructure components. Currently we have implemented a telecommunications core service based on our existing J323 IP Telephony middleware. Advanced services are created by either modifying the way a core service is executed (supplementary service) or by combining multiple core services. Advanced services are packaged as a single entity that gets published on the NaSS and then propagated from deployment, activation, subscription to actual execution. At every stage in its lifecycle an advanced service gets dynamically loaded / unloaded on request by an Agent Initiator in a Service Node by receiving / publishing a specific subject notification. The dynamic loading / unloading of services is exploiting the capabilities of Java class loaders.

More detailed information can be found in:
Y. Duponchel, M. Graf, and H. L. Truong, An Architecture for Providing Advanced Telecommunication Services, Telecommunication Network Intelligence, ed. by H.R. van As. Boston, Kluwer, 2000. p. 37-57.