Considerations for Information Services and Operator Services Using SIP
Information Services are services whereby information is provided in response to user requests, and may include involvement of a human or automated agent. A popular existing Information Service is Directory Assistance (DA). Moving ahead, Information Services providers envision exciting multimedia services that support simultaneous voice and data interactions with full operator backup at any time during the call. Information Services providers are planning to migrate to SIP based platforms, which will enable such advanced services, while continuing to support traditional DA services. Operator Services are traditional PSTN services which often involve providing human or automated assistance to a caller, and often require the specialized capabilities traditionally provided by an operator services switch. Market and/or regulatory factors in some jurisdictions dictate that some subset of Operator Services continue to be provided going forward. This document aims to identify how Operator and Information Services can be implemented using existing or currently proposed SIP mechanisms, to identity existing protocol gaps, and to provide a set of Best Current Practices to facilitate interoperability. For Operator Services, the intention is to describe how current operator services can continue to be provided to PSTN based subscribers via a SIP based operator services architecture. It also looks at how current operator services might be provided to SIP based subscribers via such an architecture, but does not consider the larger question of the need for or usefulness or suitability of each of these services for SIP based subscribers. This document addresses the needs of current Operator and Information Services providers; as such, the intended audience includes vendors of equipment and services to such providers.