Implementation Experience with the OMG IN/CORBA Interworking Specification

The Object Management Group has recently adopted a specification to standardise interworking between Signaling System No.7 systems and CORBA-based systems. This specification defines two types of interworking mechanism: 1. Interworking between CORBA-based TC-User Application Entities (such as CORBA-based Service Control Points) and legacy TC-User Application Entities (such as Service Switching Points), where communication between the Signalling System No.7 and CORBA domains is through a gateway mechanism that provides a CORBA view of a legacy target and a legacy view of a CORBA target. This is specified as the gateway approach; 2. Interworking between islands of CORBA-based systems using the existing Signalling System No.7 infrastructure as a transport network for CORBA messages between Application Entities. This is specified as the SCCP Inter-ORB Protocol. This paper reviews the current specification for the gateway approach and presents some enhancements that are based on practical implementation experience. An implementation of the gateway specification is outlined and performance characteristics are presented.