Benefits of NGN Enabled Label

Next Generation Networking (NGN) is a broad term used to describe key architectural evolutionary changes in telecommunication core and access networks that will be deployed over the next 5-10 years. The general idea behind NGN is that one network will transport all the information and services (e.g. voice, data, media, such as video, etc.) by encapsulating the data into packets, as is done over the Internet.

Figure 1: Logo NGN Enabled

NGN implies a consolidation of several (dedicated or overlay) transport networks, each of which was historically built for a different service, into one core transport network. It further connotes the migration of voice data from a switched architecture (PSTN) to that of VoIP, as well as migration of legacy services (X.25, Frame Relay, ATM) to IP.
This convergence clearly signifies vast technical and commercial change. In order to facilitate communication between affected parties, the NGN Enabled logo (see Figure 1) guarantees that products bearing it are able to process data from Next Generation Networks technology.
The NGN Enabled quality standard is used for Operational Support Software (OSS) products used in the following telecommunication environments:
 

	Surveillance & Monitoring platforms
	Performance Management systems
	Revenue Assurance systems (as) are allowed to use this label

These industry sectors are defined by the TeleManagement Forum association, and relate to specific software and hardware technologies (see Figure 2).

Often a product used for one network technology can be “tweaked” or easily adapted for use with another technology. Thus many OSS products are implicitly NGN enabled. In order to improve telecom market awareness of NGN product capability, the distinctive “NGN Enabled” logo (Figure 1) proves technology compliance with Next Generation Network infrastructure.

Figure 2: TeleManagement Forum eTom Model of the Telecom Industry