| Abstract: | The overall goal of the TelecommunicationsInformation Networking Architecture (TINA) is to defineand specify a software architecture for thetelecommunications infrastructure which encompassesnetworking, network services, and operations, to handle theincreasingly distributed nature of software in networks.The purpose of this paper is to describe how TINA may bepositioned in the software infrastructure of future telecommunications networks, with thefocus on the infrastructures of Public TelecommunicationOperators (PTOs). An architecture for a new PTO networkinfrastructure is proposed and the needs that this architecture satisfies are discussed.The concept of the  programmable network isintroduced to satisfy the PTO need to quickly trial anddeploy new services. Five aspects of this targetarchitecture are discussed, namely: a client/serverarchitecture, a service creation architecture, anapplication architecture, a PTO federation architecture,and a new management architecture. The potential role of TINA in each aspect is described, and thepotential benefits of TINA to PTOs aresummarized. |
