MSF VoIP Work Plan (part 6)

 The MSF is committed to an aggressive technical program to specify and prove a solution for a full scale PSTN replacement network over next generation IP infrastructure. This technical program will attack head on the major issues that have so far prevented the next generation network (NGN) from being fit for purpose, specifically it aims to provide for a network that is capable of offering Quality of Service (QoS) and security in a way that will scale to the many billions of busy hour calls that a typical PSTN must handle.  The MSF work program will follow the established and proven MSF approach to problem solving by: 

• Proposing a coherent and pragmatic network vision.

• Identifying existing protocols that can deliver the vision and enhancing and profiling them so as to
make them fit for purpose whilst removing barriers to interoperability

• Developing a program of earlFrom a technical perspective the MSF has currently identified the following key technical areas:
 • Scaleable IP QoS for Voice (and multimedia) over IP
- This work area will define a solution for providing QoS over an IP network in a way that will scale to the many billions of BHCA that a PSTN network must support. As part of this work area the interaction between SIP services and QoS mechanisms such as MPLS-TE will be addressed and the functionality required in IP edge routers will be defined.
• Security in an end to end VoIP network

- The nature of an end-to-end VoIP solution means that it is vulnerable to a variety of attacks,
ranging from theft of service to denial of service. This work area will define a security framework for an MSF next generation network that will provide protection against malicious attacks.  y interoperability testing with carrier grade equipment supported by
detailed and relevant test plans. 

 • Service and Feature Interactions

- This work area will further define the MSF service layer with a view to identifying and
proving new and innovative network services and verifying that these services can be supported over the scaleable next generation network being defined by the MSF.
•  Call routing for end to end VoIP

- This work area will look at call routing mechanisms and the addressing issues that must be
considered when working with a pure VoIP environment and a mixed VoIP, Legacy PSTN environment.
• Management 

- This work area will address management issues related to an MSF next generation network. 

The MSF will publish a number of white papers that address these issues and these white papers will identify the basic solution space from which the detailed solution design will develop.  The detailed design will motivate the overall architecture and act as a starting point for protocol profiling and interoperability testing.