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Multi-Access Modular-Services Framework –
Supporting SMEs with an innovative Service Creation toolkit based on
integrated SDP/IMS infrastructure
B. Freese
Deutsche Telekom AG, Laboratories, Germany
Email: behrend.freese@telekom.de
Internet: www.telekom.de/laboratories
H. Stein
T-Systems Enterprise Services GmbH, Germany
Email: horst.stein@t-systems.com
Internet: www.t-systems.de
T. Magedanz, S. Dutkowski
Fraunhofer Institute FOKUS / Technical University of Berlin, Germany
Email: {magedanz|dutkowski}@fokus.fraunhofer.de
Internet: www.fokus.fraunhofer.de/ngni and www.av.tu-berlin.de
Abstract — Modern telecommunication networks and services is needed. The target of the Multi-Access
classical roles of operators are subject to fundamental Modular-Services Framework (MAMS) [1] is to support
changes. Standardization bodies and the industry are Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) with an easy
specifying and integrating Next Generation Network usable system, which allows creating and delivering ITC
(NGN) infrastructures and NGN services based on an all-
services without deep technical expertise. Basic services
IP paradigm. The IETF, ETSI, 3GPP, 3GPP2 and OMA
are working on technological issues to enable services using are predefined and the SME can configure and combine
Internet technology and Service Orientated Architectures these services for its own purposes. The delivery
(SOA). This paper reports about the German research platform of MAMS works with the IP Multimedia
project Multi-Access Modular-Services Framework Subsystem (IMS), which enables various business and
(MAMS) funded by the German Federal Ministry of consumer applications on ITC network with
Education and Research (BMBF). It targets the access of standardised technologies. Between the Next Generation
Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) with an easy usable Network (NGN) Infrastructure and the Service Creation
system, which allows creating and delivering new services
Tools a complete service delivery platform (SDP) takes
without deep technical expertise. It focuses on the use of
standardized telecommunications architectures and APIs
care of a secure and reliable delivery of the composed
for Network Abstraction to glue emerging service. The IP Multimedia System (IMS) represents an
telecommunication architectures with 3rd party services, international standard for a multimedia service
the Internet and vice versa. provisioning platform based on a combination of
internet and telecommunications concepts for future all-
Index Terms — Service Creation Environment, Small IP networks. There is no doubt that IMS will become the
and Medium Enterprises, Service Delivery Platform, Next common technology denominator for converging fixed,
Generation Network, IP Multimedia Subsystem, Service mobile and cable networks for providing seamless triple
Oriented Architecture.
and quadruple play services. The need for future
networks to converge is materializing into the NGN
INTRODUCTION concepts. The basic requirement for these future
The convergence of telecommunication services and architectures is to offer a unified service delivery
Internet based multimedia services will allow an platform over reliable Internet standards.
efficient provision of integrated services like VoIP,
video conferencing, web browsing, messaging, location, MAMS is a research project funded by the Federal
presence etc. via the Next Generation Network (NGN). Ministry of Education and Research of Germany
(BMBF) and developed by partners from industry
Enterprises use information and communication (ITC) (Deutsche Telekom Laboratories, Alcatel-Lucent, and
services for improving their customer processes as well Infineon) and research (Fraunhofer Institutes FIRST,
as for internal business processes optimization. In order FOKUS, SIT and Technical University of Berlin).
to establish appropriate ITC services a large body of
technical knowledge for designing and operating the
GENERAL ARCHITECTURE Any external resources or services when necessary
should be integrated on this level.
The MAMS framework consists of mainly three layers.
The SME user defines the service in the Service
services
workbench
Creation Workbench (SCW). The service delivery,
monitoring and control are performed in the Open
external
Distributed Service Delivery Platform (ODSDP) as basicservices
services
second layer.
ODSDP
components/ modules
Basic services are defined as web services and described capsulation
in standardised xml format. The network control and payment user-DB … IMS
transport to different devices is conducted with IMS
technology and related service enabler. Figure 2 Classifications of Services
SERVICE CREATION ENVIRONMENT
Service Creation Workbench
The significant simplification of the service creation
Tool 1 Tool 2 ... Tool n process is an important step for software engineering
MAMS Customer
methodologies. If the effort for service development can
be reduced, the developer can focus more on the
Open Distributed Service
problem itself instead of dealing most of the time with
Delivery Platform the requirements and the details of the technical
Enduser
Terminals Basic Basic Basic
background.
Service 1 Service 2 ... Service n
Therefore the procedure model of MAMS takes into
account that services will not only be designed from the
IP Multimedia Subsystem
role of an expert, but also from the role of non-experts
Intelligent Service Oriented within the ITC domain. For non-experts, the creation of
Network Infrastructure a service takes place within the Service Creation
Environment (SCE). The Service Creation Environment
MAMS provides all functions for the non-experts to create and
deploy services via the MAMS Framework. The main
Figure 1 The three MAMS layer
working tool to achieve this is the Service Creation
Workbench which is integrated part of the SCE.
Based on possible business scenarios, several actors and
roles are involved when creating and delivering services Library Workspace
within the MAMS domain. Therefore, services can be SendMMS
classified in different abstraction levels. For structuring SendSMS
CheckLocation
this classification of services, functional levels for a MessageText
User
hierarchical organisation within the platform are SendMessage
User
LiveAudio
defined. SendSMS
LiveVideo
Message
SendEmail
Level 1 represents existing modules that are directly Message
CheckLocation
encapsulated within in the ODSDP. These modules ArchiveAudio
MessageText
generate the functional base of the MAMS platform. ArchiveVideo
They have no visibility to the SME.
Figure 3 Service Creation Workbench
Level 2 while level 1 elements are an integrated part of
the service delivery platform, the level 2 basic services
are instantiated within the service creation workbench. The service creation workbench consists of a graphical
They can only be created from experts but they will be user interface which allows the SME to create a data
used from the non-experts for service creation and are flow oriented description of different preconfigured
part of the workbench service repository. services. The graphical description of the services with
boxes, links and parameters is mapped to a Service
Level 3 consists of ready to run (composed) services, Description Language (SDL) which also comprises
visible to the end user. They are built from basic control constructs (e.g. if else, while) [2]. The
services contained in the repository of the workbench. preconfigured services are represented as boxes which
can be fetched from a library and placed on a graphical services are services that are no more decomposable or
work area. Connections between the boxes are built interruptible from the ODSDP. How these atomic
simple by drawing links between the corresponding services are implemented is not relevant for the ODSDP
output and input ports of two boxes. The SME and it is assumed that these services are either
configures the services (e.g. define his target user group, implemented as agent adapters or bind to the platform
define preferred communication media) and combines through a service bus.
the services to aggregated services, which fulfil the
SMEs business model. NETWORK ABSTRACTION
Together with an OMA (Open Mobile Alliance) [3]
After completion of the service creation the SME can
oriented network abstraction layer, the IMS Core builds
check the constructed service, and deliver it to the
the foundation for a SOA (Service Oriented
service delivery part of the MAMS framework.
Architecture) approach towards the ODSDP. This
Monitoring and cancellation of running services will be
Parlay X based network abstraction layer provides a
supported.
reliable policy based access to communication network
resources that are exposed as service enabler in an OMA
SERVICE DELIVERY PLATFORM Service Environment [4].
The Open Distributed Service Delivery Platform
(ODSDP) manages the operation of the composed Open Distributed Service Platform (ODSDP)
service of the MAMS framework and can be seen as
core runtime environment for the service logic. Beside
the internal structure, based on principles of service
Network Abstraction (NA)
orientation and agent technology, the ODSDP
additionally integrates several different communication
infrastructures. Based on the SDL description of the Web Services based access (e.g. Parlay X)
service ODSDP chooses adequate resources and
controls the data flow in order to realise the service in
Call Handling
Management
Conference
Multimedia
Multimedia
the addressed network with high quality and
AddressList
Messaging
Presence
Other…
Payment
Location
erminal
performance. Various mechanisms for matching the
customer needs like security, user management, data
T
persistence, etc. are realised. ODSDP uses standardised
interfaces to access the basic services (WSDL, SOAP)
and thus new services of 3rd parties can easily be
imported into the framework. Further on functions for
Legacy Environment Open IMS
monitoring and management of the running services are
provided.
Figure 5 Network Abstraction Layer Architectural
Service Creation Environment / Workbench
Overview
DFL, policies, deploy, undeploy, configure, …
Open Distributed Service Delivery Platform (ODSDP)
IMS is currently deployed at only few operators’ sites
and these deployments are at the point of writing mostly
OSS Administration Services
Service
Smart Convergence
Service Component
Service 1 … Service n
Service
Engine compliant to 3GPP Release 5 and 6 [7], which do not
External Web Services
External Web Service
Interfaces
include all network functions like SMS, MMS as being
User Interface
Inter Service Communication
Integration
SOAP
Protocols Language Security Routing
IMS accessible. The Network Abstraction Layer was
Infrastructure Services introduced between the ODSDP and the physical
network functions. This Network Abstraction Layer was
Mobility Persistence Channels Discovery Management
3rd
Parlay X Extended
Party Integration Services
SIP AS ISONI Services
implemented following the specification of the OMA
Service Environment (OSE) [4] from the Open Mobile
Multimedia
Streaming
Policies, Service Usage
NA IMS ISONI
Alliance (OMA) [3]. The OSE implementation at
Fraunhofer Institute FOKUS is named Open
Figure 4 Open Distributed Service Delivery Platform Communication Server X (OCS-X) and is situated on
top of Parlay X Web Services [5]. Policies are used to
Aggregated services are represented within the ODSDP protect the Parlay X Web Services as well as to allow
as Declarative Formal Language (DFL) scripts which Web Services orchestration.
are processed by a volunteered agent as soon as the
service is called. Normally this script calls atomic The OCS-X provides an environment that can be used
services to generate its functionality. These atomic from 3rd Party Applications. Fulfilling user’s settings
and preferences, 3rd Party Service Providers and OPEN SOURCE IMS CORE
network operators need to agree with the involved
FOKUS’ Open IMS Playground [8] [10] and Open SOA
business partners. Only authorized entities are able to
Telco Playground [9] are built based on the Open
access the services or network resources. Due to the
Source IMS Core OSIMS [11] [12] that serve as core
nature of SOA, network operators must also ensure a
IMS infrastructure for the MAMS project.
secure message exchange between involved services.
Applications can be deployed on trusted or un-trusted
domains; network providers which expose its resources
to 3rd party applications (un-trusted domains) must
expose them in a secure and protected way. The key
component of the OSE is an enabler called Policy
Evaluation, Enforcement and Management (PEEM).
The PEEM is specified in order to protect users and
business partner information and network resources. It
also provides the core SOA principles reuse, delegation
and composition. The OSE together with a PEEM will
facilitate network operators the management,
development and deployment of new mobile
applications and services in an easier and faster manner
as nowadays. Additionally, the OSE architecture can be
used in order to migrate to SOA based solutions. The
OCS-X extension is made in order to enhance the
Playground towards a seamless Service Delivery
Platform (SDP) build on SOA principles. IMS and
OSA/Parlay play a big role in the OSE architecture,
because they facilitate the collaboration between Figure 7 Open IMS Playgrounds @ FOKUS Architectural
enterprises, mobile operators, mobile content publishers, Overview
mobile service providers, and 3rd party service provider.
Generally an application that requests network resources The demonstrated IMS clients in the MAMS showcases
will access the PEEM through a Web Services request. register with the Open IMS Core and all SIP routing
Figure 6 provides an overview of the PEEM within in the IMS domain is going through it, no matter
functionality of the OCS-X related OSE implementation. whether the signalling is coming from the service
delivery platform domain, the media gateways or the
IMS clients. It can thus be stated that OSIMS also plays
a vivid role in realizing and showing MAMS findings in
service creation applied to IMS networks. MAMS is one
of the first projects to demonstrate concepts realized on
this IMS core reference implementation.
When the OSIMS project was started, it was unique in a
sense that it was the first Open Source project to provide
IMS related features. Yet, shortly after the launch of the
OSIMS, there were two IMS client implementations
started that should briefly be mentioned, also since they
are used heavily in combination with the Open IMS
Core from community members.
Figure 6 Internal Architecture of the Open PEEM • The UCT IMS client [11]
• The IMS Communicator [13]
Services that request a complex functionality that Also from that perspective, it can be stated, that the
consists of several different service enablers (and project supported the adoption of IMS concepts.
different Parlay X interfaces) can be orchestrated with
the use of the Business Process Execution Language Since its launch in November 2006, there have been
(BPEL) [6]. more than 25.000 visitors to the webpage and approx.
9000 unique visitors from all over the world. The access
rate of the website has continuously risen up to an messages only to people who come into the vicinity of
average of approx. 200 visits per day (in June 2007) the mall. A responsible for marketing could plug
with one third being new users. together the necessary service components to set up a
service which detects potential customers entering the
shopping area, and then sends appropriate advertisement
messages, latest special offers or information of general
interest (breaking news, alerts, etc).
Yet another example showcase scenario deals with the
support of a travel agency by delivering novel ITC
services to its customers. In this example the SME /
travel agency uses the MAMS platform to enable a
particular customer group, which is, for example, just
visiting a city, to make use of push2talk services, to
receive location-dependent advertisement or information
e. g. regarding local cultural, to share photos or
Figure 8 Worldwide access to the project website contribute to a group-specific blog on a community
website for the exchange of travelling experience
reports. This service can be built up and deployed by the
The website has been accessed from all over the world MAMS platform and will support the SME in generating
with the European countries having the biggest access an added value for its customers by the provision of
rates. novel ITC services created by non-expert developers
who only need to use the web browser-based simple-to-
SCENARIOS use service creation workbench for combining basic
An example scenario deployment supports the service elements to set up a powerful yet easy to build
transmission of life multimedia streams for restricted service.
user communities. A soccer club, for example, could
plan to make live video transmissions of plays available SUMMARY
to its members via NGN communication. By means of The goal of MAMS is the specification and roll-out of a
the MAMS service creation workbench a responsible novel, unified, open Service Delivery Platform for Next
club member (administrator) can easily assemble the Generation Networks and Services. The SDP under
required basic service components (e. g. the IMS development enables the rapid design of new
content source address, i.e. the (SIP-) address of the combinable services for a wide range of multimedia
camera, the addresses of the authorized users, type of applications based on the seamless use of various
authorization, address of the media server, sort of user network technologies and integrated voice and data The
notification)) to establish the service. Another version of project further aims at deploying distributed
this scenario could involve business TV transmission for dynamically configurable network nodes and a modular
distributed SME sites (e. g., weekly message, sales and IMS-based Overlay Service Architecture with open
marketing news). The technical realization is achieved interfaces for the integration of third party providers - in
by using the appropriate Parlay X interfaces, i. e. the particular small and medium enterprises - to develop
ODSDP is connected to the IMS via the Parlay X methodically structured processes and service-
network abstraction layer. In the current implementation generation tools also addressing general problems of
the ODSDP acts as a (Parlay X) SIP application server open service environments. MAMS enables SME to
which talks to a Parlay X Gateway. In this example the deliver new business models for their end customers by
ODSDP service call startLiveStreaming had to be reduced effort and costs.
mapped onto the corresponding Parlay X function. In
this case the streaming service is initiated by sending
REFERENCES
multimedia messages to the IMS. That is, SOAP
attachments containing appropriate XML documents are [1] Multi Access, Modular-Services Framework,
sent to the Parlay X gateway in order to enable the BMBF http://www.mams-platform.net/
stream initialization between the media server and the
stream consumers. [2] White Book. Deutsche Telekom AG Pattern
Language - Consistent Interaction Logic for
Another scenario realizes location-dependent messaging Services & Applications by Deutsche Telekom
for an open user-group. For example shopping mall Laboratories. 1. Imprint 2007
operators could build a service for transmitting
[3] Open Mobile Alliance,
http://www.openmobilealliance.org
[4] Open Mobile Alliance: “OMA Service
Environment”, 1.0 OMA, Feb. 2007 -
http://www.openmobilealliance.org/release_progra
m/ose_v1_0.html
[5] The Parlay Group, Parlay X Web Services
Specifications,
http://www.parlay.org/en/specifications/pxws.asp
[6] OASIS Web Services Business Process Execution
Language Version 2.0 (BPEL), 11 April 2007,
http://docs.oasis-open.org/wsbpel/2.0/wsbpel-
v2.0.pdf
[7] 3GPP TS 23.228 V7.6.0, 3rd Generation
Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group
Services and System Aspects; IP Multimedia
Subsystem (IMS); Stage 2 (Release 7), December
2006
[8] The Open IMS Playground @ FOKUS –
http://www.fokus.fraunhofer.de/ims
[9] The Open SOA Telco Playground @ FOKUS –
http://www.fokus.fraunhofer.de/ims/opensoaplaygro
und
[10] D. Vingarzan, P. Weik, T. Magedanz, "Design and
Implementation of an Open IMS Core", *2^nd *
*IEEE Workshop on Mobility Aware Technologies
and Applications (MATA) - Service Delivery
Platforms for Next Generation Networks,
Montreal, Canada, October 2005
[11] D. Vingarzan, P. Weik, T. Magedanz “Towards an
Open Source IMS Core System Enabling Rapid
prototyping of NGN Services”, *3rd International
WORKSHOP on ' Next Generation Networking
Middleware' (NGNM06) in the scope of Networking
2006 5th IFIP ? TC6 Networking Conference; May
19, 2006; University of Coimbra, Portugal
[12] D. Vingarzan, P. Weik, T. Magedanz
“Development of an Open Source IMS Core for
emerging IMS testbeds, academia and beyond”,
*Journal for Mobile Multimedia, 2006 Rinton Press
[13] The UCT IMS Client –
http://uctimsclient.berlios.de
[14] The IMS Communicator –
http://imscommunicator.berlios.de
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