The concept of distributed network intelligence will provide a powerful foundation upon which the next-generation network can be built. It will supplant the intelligent network and computer telephony, and provide the framework upon which information, applications, and the means to bring them together can create services needed and valued by end users, service providers, and network providers. Distribution techniques within holistic systems establish the foreground for architectural implementation in heterogeneous environments for computational, contextual, and cooperative design sets. Intelligence in each of these settings provides the point and multipoint decision-making capabilities for operational evaluation and, quite likely, intelligent modification of the distribution techniques. Combined, the two methods afford today's and tomorrow’s telecommunication networks the ability to operate in legacy, heterogeneous, and federated systems proactively