Summary

An information control network (ICN) is a logical network providing services over digital television infrastructure characterized by high-reliable data transfer, service management and traffic control.

ICN allows the organization of a trusted environment for the provisioning of mission-critical services, such as emergency management, e-government, e-commerce and e-health, by introducing the ICN operator as a single point of service management.

The usage of the digital television infrastructure is effective in terms of large geographical area coverage.

Where next generation network (NGN) is available, ICN typical deployments combine the usage of digital television infrastructure with NGN for an increased service offer while reducing NGN bandwidth requirements for service users (this is extremely relevant for areas not covered by broadband access).

Recommendation ITU-T Y.2239 provides a description of ICN and general characteristics of ICN applications. It then describes requirements of ICN applications and specifies extended or new NGN capability requirements based on the identified requirements.