Standardization of INAP: the European approach

ITU-T (former CCITT) published their first Intelligent Network Capability Set (IN CS-1) in 1992, well known as the Q.121x recommendation series. The IN Application Part (INAP) as specified in Q.1218 can be considered as the core component of the CS-1 recommendations. ITU-T CS-1 including Q.1218 was the first significant step towards an international INAP standard. However this Q.1218 does not fulfill the requirements of an implementable standard from a technical point of view, for example in several aspects it is not detailed enough or contains redundant functionality. Therefore the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) started a refinement activity based on ITU-T Q.1218 in 1993. Major target of this activity was to provide as fast as possible an implementable INAP that satisfies the requirements of a multi vendor environment. This was achieved by defining a subset of Q.1218 operations and parameters. Further simplification was achieved by selecting and deleting options and by adding detailed procedures where necessary. The result was a European INAP standard named Core INAP. This paper describes the guidelines used for the European approach of the standardization of Core INAP. Furthermore the relation between INAP standardization in Europe and ITU-T is discussed.