Johannesburg — The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), together with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), is to hold a workshop on next-generation networks (NGNs) next week.

For the past year, the ITU has been working towards the development of standards that will define services and network and systems architecture in the next generation of IP-enabled communication systems.

This latest meeting, scheduled to take place in Geneva on 1 and 2 May, aims both to report on the progress of the ITU's work on NGNs and to identify areas where action can be taken to make further progress on the subject.

Over the course of the two days there will be six sessions, each co-chaired by an ITU representative and a representative from the IETF.

A key focus will be on the increasingly important topic of security, along with other issues such as signalling, quality of service, requirements and functional architecture, network management and the evolution from the traditional 'circuit switched' network.

Another area that will be addressed is the concept known as 'nomadicity', which is about ensuring the underlying technology is invisible to the user in a multi-service, multi-protocol, multi-vendor environment, in order to offer fixed and mobile users seamless communication.

"We have made tremendous progress on NGNs and the momentum that this work has achieved will allow the ICT industry to develop a raft of new products and services on a much more dynamic infrastructure, based on globally accepted standards," says Houlin Zhao, director of the ITU's Telecommunication Standardisation Bureau.