The future vision of "information and communication anytime, anywhere, and in any form" is starting to come into focus as major players begin to position themselves for radical transformation of their network and service infrastructures. It has become increasingly clear that a prerequisite for realization of such a vision is the convergence of the current multiple networks -- each employing different transport and control technologies -- into a unified, multi-service, data-centric network offering services at different qualities and costs on open service platforms.  read more »