Performance analysis of a prototypal multimedia service in an intelligent broadband network

Advanced multimedia multiparty services call for sophisticated signalling systems able to manage multiple parties and media in broadband environments. In this paper we dealt with the support of multimedia applications in an Intelligent Broadband Network (IBN), where the Intelligent Network, in a closed interaction with the B-ISDN, furnishes control functionality to handle complex service configuration. Some different options for an IN/B-ISDN interaction are discussed starting from the results of the INSIGNIA project (carried out in the framework of the European Union ACTS program) where a prototypal IBN system has been specified and developed in a field trial. Two main architectural solutions are discussed and a generic modelling methodology for the performance analysis of the control plane is presented. The objective of this modelling methodology is to provide insights into the behaviour of the system under dynamic conditions and to capture the influence of alternative functional settings. The proposed model is applied to the evaluation of the support of the Broadband Video Conference service in the prototypal system as well as to compare the performance of alternative architectural solutions for the IBN. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.