 Welcome to the subject of next generation networks. It is a three plus zero craters and I'm your instructor, Dr. Ali Hamad Akbar. I'm going to conduct video lectures of five to six minutes duration each and I'm going to discuss a wide range of topics which relate to how new generation networks are evolving as next gen. Let's first start with the definition of what NGNs are. Primarily, this subject deals with the convergence of telecommunications services, data services, and television and radio broadcast services which are all unified into a centralized IP based platform. In order to understand how much the students have picked up, I'm going to discuss and define the evaluation methodology which is based on quizzes, the assignments which are primarily going to determine what all phases of next generation network evolution have you understood, specifically in terms of the requirement specifications that a user or a stakeholder is going to give in order to realize a next generation network. The configuration scenarios which would be use case dependent and of course how the technology could be deployed with the existing paraphernalia and infrastructure. Formally, you'd also be evaluated through a written midterm and a final examination. Although it is a little too early to comment on what all topics we are going to study in NGNs, broadly speaking, we must ask ourselves why are we going to study this? In other words, we would rationalize the study of next generation networks. This would lead us to the issues which arise the moment we think about converging all the services that I mentioned. The consequent challenges which are natural to the issues which would emerge newly. With these challenges would also come new avenues and new opportunities to address the markets and the niche market segments which would arise. Since next generation networks is more of something which is already under deployment and is being tested, so it is important to look at how the world views NGNs and we would finally be heading towards the futuristic conclusion, how the next generation networks are going to eventually involve. You might have heard of something called LTE, so LTE is more akin to next generation networks. In order to design a subject that addresses a broad range of topics, it is important to keep it modular. I've tried to keep the contents fairly independent of each other so that the students could pick them up from anywhere and still they're able to comprehend the lectures. The diversity is so important that it should not be a unilateral lecture that is focusing on a certain perspective, but I must ensure and I must make an effort to make it as broad perspective based as possible. For that, we'd look at how the standardization bodies, such as the ITUT, the IEEE, and the 3GPP, look at it. Then we'd look at how the industry is making effort to encash the opportunity. And of course, we as academics are also having a keen insight into what this NGN is going to evolve like. So I think that I'm going to give you a very broad perspective based understanding. I hope to see you again. Thank you.