The development of
telecommunication systems during the past two decades has been from the
circuit switched towards the packet switched paradigm. Initially a
distinction was made between telecommunications and computer networks
which is hardly applicable in today's reality. Incumbent network operators
are running legacy circuit-switched telephony networks which inhibit them
from enjoying the benefits of packet switching. Many operators have now
started the paradigm shift in the telephony network by moving to packet
based technologies. This new approach is often called Next Generation
Networks (NGN). NGN enables the network operators to run all services on
one network, i.e. voice, data and video.
In this project the
transformation to NGN in Iceland Telecom's network will be examined. A
cost model of the telecommunications system will be developed and the cost
and benefits of transforming the network to NGN will be assessed. Methods
of optimisation will be applied on the cost model to find the optimal
number of nodes and their positions. The optimisation will yield the
network structure that results in the lowest possible operational cost and
the model can show how deviations from the optimum will affect the cost.
Feasibility of NGN is then assessed by comparing the cost of NGN migration
to that of the current telephone network. The results are finally
presented to users through an easy to use graphical decision support
system.
Keywords
Next Generation
Networks, ENGINE, Spreadsheet modelling, Optimisation, heuristic, solver,
feasibility