Wireless Intelligent Networking (Artech House Mobile Communications Library)

As existing carriers hire additional engineers and new telecommunications companies get underway, there's ever-increasing demand for people who know about Intelligent Network (IN) operations. Wireless Intelligent Networking explains how the IN works (especially in the United States), particularly the network's means of interacting with mobile communications systems. The book was written by working telecoms engineers, and though it is carefully organized (it's usually pretty easy to find a section on the protocol or other mechanism that interests you, for example), it's a little hard to decode on the first pass because of the nature of the subject. Advice to the reader: have specifications documents (relevant ones are listed in the endnotes) on hand as you read so that you can compare two presentations of the same facts and thus understand more quickly.

Discussion on the protocols that come into play during mobile interaction with the IN includes a fantastic level of detail. To cite one example, the different approaches to Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) taken by IS-764 and IS-771 are explored, and each specification is further explained via a chart that details the flow of messages between parties. Similarly excellent documentation appears for all applicable protocols, established and emerging. The business issues associated with wireless IN are also discussed. The material is good, but for a book-length treatment of emerging telecoms technologies and the industry surrounding them, read Telecommunications Convergence. --David Wall

Topics covered:

• The established and emerging technologies surrounding wireless intelligent networking
• Radio standards
• Wireless network standards
• Third-generation wireless standards
• General-purpose SS7 signaling protocol
• Wireless Intelligent Network (WIN)
• Customized Applications for Mobile Enhanced Logic (CAMEL)
• Market issues