CAPACITY AND PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF SIGNALING NETWORKS IN MULTIVENDOR ENVIRONMENTS

The load of common channel signaling networks is being increased throu gh the introduction of new services such as supplementary services or mobile communication services. This may lead to a performance degradat ion of the signaling network, which affects both the quality of the ne w services and of the services already offered by the network. In this paper, a generic modeling methodology for the signaling load and the signaling network performance as a result of the various communication services is extended in order to include certain implementation-depen dent particularities. The models are obtained by considering the proto col functions of Signaling System No. 7 as specified by the CCITT, as well as the information flows through these functions. With this appro ach, virtual processor models are derived which can be mapped onto par ticular implementations. This allows the analysis of signaling network s in a multivendor environment. Using these principles, a signaling ne twork planning tool concept has been developed which provides the dist inct loading of hardware and software signaling network resources, and on which hierarchical performance analysis and planning procedures ar e based. This allows to support the planning of signaling networks acc ording to given service, load, and grade-of-service figures. A simple case study outlines the application of the tool concept to a network s upporting Freephone, Credit Card, and ISDN voice services.