computer network A computer network is a set of computers sharing resources located on or provided by network nodes. The computers use common communication protocols over digital interconnections to communicate with each other. These interconnections ar ...

s, a service capability interaction manager (or SCIM) orchestrates service delivery among application server platforms within the

IP multimedia subsystem The IP Multimedia Subsystem or IP Multimedia Core Network Subsystem (IMS) is a standardised architectural framework for delivering IP multimedia services. Historically, mobile phones have provided voice call services over a circuit-switched-styl ...

(IMS) architecture. A key requirement for the Service Broker functionality is to be able to bridge between the existing

legacy In law, a legacy is something held and transferred to someone as their inheritance, as by will and testament. Personal effects, family property, marriage property or collective property gained by will of real property. Legacy or legacies may refer ...

networks, and the next-generation networks. For example, if the operator has a service platform that provides freephone (or reverse charging)-type services to its

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such as ...

subscriber, the service broker will enable the operator to extend this to the IMS environment without modifying the service platform or the service application. The service broker will also enable the

Centrex Centrex is a portmanteau of central exchange, a kind of telephone exchange. It provides functions similar to a PBX, but is provisioned with equipment owned by, and located at, the telephone company premises. Centrex service was first installed ...

-type services to be combined with existing GSM services, such as ringback tones or

VPN A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network and enables users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private network. The be ...

References

Service-oriented (business computing) {{Compu-network-stub