SISTINA Partners

Siemens AG
Otto-Hahn-Ring 6
D-81730 Munich
GERMANY

Italtel
Central Research and Development Labs
Palazzo Laboratori
I-20019 Castello di Settimo Milanese (MI)
ITALY

Description:
In the current telecommunication scenario, the provision of new services and the enrichment of existing services with value-ending features, is becoming a key issue for the success of Public Network Operators (PNOs). This is a strategic goal for PNOs, as the wide diffusion of Internet is threatening their position as network service providers, potentially reducing their role to pure connectivity providers. The Internet phenomenon has the tendency to drive network intelligence from the core network intelligence from the core network towards peripheral systems. The might result in lost revenue for PNOs.

With in the SISTINA project, Italtel and Siemens have devised a solution to exploit the advantages of two apparently contrasting worlds: the Internet and the Public Switched Networks. This solution provides value-adding services to the Internet world, guaranteeing an active role for PNOs in the Internet realm, using CORBA.

A new and attractive service architecture has been identified which combines the strengths of both worlds. Services with guaranteed quality, well established business relationships and efficient payment mechanisms, are known advantages of telecommunication services providers. Internet services, thanks to their easy-to-use graphical user interface, have gather a wide public acceptance. SISTINA combines these strengths by means of TINA concepts, implementing highly modular, value-adding service features. They can be easily integrated into existing and future third party Internet Server Applications.

SISTINA Key Features:

1. Connectivity Control for a guaranteed Quality of Service.
   The Connectivity Control service feature allows for the establishment of dedicated switched connections with guaranteed QoS between end users and Internet Application Providers, bypassing Internet bottlenecks.

2. Integrated Billing
   The integrated billing service feature offers the possibility of integrating the SISTINA payment system with the Public Network Operators' charging and billing systems. This integration can be exploited both for:
   • the payment of connectivity resources used to achieve a guaranteed QoS
   • the payment of goods purchased via an Electronic Commerce Platform, or other online services

3. Confidence
   The Confidence Service feature allows the SISTINA Retailer to provide a second level of authorization to both end-users and Internet Application Providers (IAPs). IAPs are guaranteed to have a business relationship with users which are ready to pay for services and goods, and vice versa, users know they can trust IAPs. The SISTINA Retailer can make use of a third party Confidence Provider to implement this service feature.

SISTINA Project Objectives

• Integration of Internet with Public Switched Networks
• Enhancement of Third Party Internet Applications by SISTINA value-adding features
• Provision of added value to Internet by focusing on Billing, QoS, and Security
• Exploitation of TINA concepts
• Benchmark TINA to select those concepts and technologies that will add value to existing and future IN products