Enter Once, Share Everywhere: User Profile Management in Converged Networks.

Abstract

Interoperation between network types (telephony, wireless, internet, etc.) is becoming increasingly feasible, leading to the so-called "converged network ", and to a broad new family of end-user focused "converged services", that combine different kinds of network connectivity (voice, text-based instant and eraall messaging, real-time presence and location information, and access to numerous web-based services). A crucial but still largely un- resolved issue is to provide easy - yet controlled - access and sharing of end-user profile data, including data about the user's devices, services, billing arrangements, address, calendar and preferences. This paper surveys the kinds of profile data that are currently held in the various networks and where/how that data is stored, identifies key stan- dards group activities working to enable profile data sharing, and proposes a data management framework (GLIP stet) that can be used across and within networks and organizations, to facilitate sharing of profile data for converged services. GLIP stet combines ideas from the federated architecture for data integration and the Napster approach for peer-to-peer sharing, in order to satisfy the high level requirements coming from standards bodies such as 3GPP GUP. The paper describes how the GUP ster framework can be supported, and identifies key topics for future research.