Addressing and Information Routing in SS7

In SS7, the SCCP layer routes the messages between different network elements using Destination Point Code (DPC) plus the Sub System Number (SSN) or Global Title (GT) plus SSN (Optional) combination. Normally, the application layer expects the SCCP to route the message and also specifies to the lower layer whether to route the message on the DPC or the GT.

SCCP uses the first combination when the application layer is aware of the destination point code and the SSN located at that point code. The second combination is used when the destination entity can be identified by the combination of elements within the GT. Normally the second combination is used when the message has to deliver to a different network and the point code of the end node is not available. In such scenarios, the network determines the destination point code and the SSN by performing a GT Translation.

As per ITU-T SCCP recommendation Q.713, SCCP should support the following elements when GT is used for addressing:

·         Address Indicator

·         GT Indicator

·         Translation Type

·         Numbering Plan

·         Encoding Scheme

·         GT Address Information